A Lesson for Korean Politicians To Learn from Trump’s Inelegant Comments

Published in MK News
(South Korea) on 10 October 2016
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Myung Jeon. Edited by Rachel Pott.
The second presidential debate was televised on Oct. 9, 2016, during which Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump faced off in the most vulgar battle ever. Donald Trump’s taped sex-talk of kissing and groping women without consent was on the chopping block, and Hillary Clinton’s husband Bill Clinton’s sex scandal was brought up for discussion. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump exchanged no formal greetings, only rough attacks. In response to Clinton’s attack that he is not fit to be president, “because he has also targeted immigrants, African-Americans, Latinos, people with disabilities, POWs, Muslims, and so many others," Trump came back at her with a threat that “you’d be in jail [for the email scandal]” if he was president.

Although CNN released the poll results, which show that 57 percent of debate watchers believe Clinton won, as opposed to 34 percent for Trump, the second presidential debate, in the absence of visions or philosophies, was grim enough for one to say that neither of them actually came out the winner.

It was Donald Trump who turned the U.S. presidential election, scheduled for Nov. 8, 2016, into a mud fight. He has degraded the dignity of politics by constantly dropping crude comments about women, the market economy and races. As Donald Trump’s lewd taped remarks about women were released on Oct. 7, 2016, after allegations had been raised that he might have avoided paying federal income taxes, even Republican leaders have withdrawn endorsements of him and have called for him to step down as the nominee. Donald Trump’s nomination, despite his numerous vulgar comments and eccentric behaviors, reflects American voters’ dissatisfaction with the old politics: the middle and lower class, who are discontented with and outraged at the economic polarization rippling through the U.S., have turned to a new form of politician.

Their vague hopes run in the complete opposite direction. Trump has become a risk to the global economy as he lacks a filter for his extreme ideas, such as a renegotiation of the terms of the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA, pulling the U.S. out of the WTO, and branding China a currency manipulator. Some even predict that if he is elected, the world’s financial markets will be upended, using the term “Trump risk.”

We should not consider the reality, where an abstract hope for clear and inexorable politics becomes a drama filled with vulgar remarks, as simply other people’s business. We, too, have many politicians who try to show off how clear they are and try to appeal to voters by making crude comments, shouting and swearing. If they are not promptly controlled, our own presidential election next year may become an arena of blunt remarks and indecency instead of visions. A lesson must be learned from Donald Trump’s case.


[사설] 품격 잃은 트럼프의 발언, 한국 정치인 반면교사 삼아라

힐러리 클린턴 민주당 후보와 도널드 트럼프 공화당 후보가 맞붙은 9일 미국 대통령 선거 2차 TV 토론은 그야말로 최악의 추잡한 공방이었다. `여성의 동의 없이 키스하거나 몸을 더듬었다`는 등 트럼프의 음담패설 녹음파일이 도마에 올랐고 힐러리의 남편 빌 클린턴의 섹스 스캔들도 설전의 대상이 됐다. 힐러리와 트럼프는 서로 형식적인 인사도 나누지 않은 채 거친 공격을 주고받았다. "여성뿐 아니라 이민자, 흑인, 전쟁포로, 무슬림 등을 모욕한 트럼프는 대통령 자격이 없다"고 공격하는 힐러리에게 트럼프는 "대통령에 당선되면 (이메일 스캔들을 이유로) 감옥에 보내겠다"며 협박하기도 했다.

미국 CNN방송은 이날 2차 토론에 대해 힐러리가 57%대34%로 승리했다는 조사 결과를 내놓았지만 그 누구도 승리자라고 할 수 없을 만큼 비전이나 철학을 찾아보기 힘든 암울한 토론이었다.

11월 8일 열리는 미국 대선을 진흙탕 싸움으로 바꾼 주역은 단연 트럼프라 할 수 있다. 그는 끊임없이 여성 비하, 반시장경제, 인종차별적 막말을 쏟아내며 정치의 품격을 떨어뜨려 왔다. 연방소득세 탈세 의혹에 이어 7일에는 급기야 음담패설 녹음파일까지 공개되자 공화당 내 유력 인사들조차 지지 철회와 함께 후보 사퇴를 요구할 정도에 이르렀다. 트럼프가 숱한 막말과 기행에도 공화당 대선후보로 뽑힌 건 기존 정치에 대한 미국인의 불만이 반영된 결과다. 미국 경제 양극화에 불만과 분노를 느낀 중산층과 저소득층이 새로운 정치인으로 눈을 돌렸기 때문이라 할 수 있다.

막연한 기대는 정반대 결과로 나타나고 있다. 트럼프는 한미 자유무역협정(FTA)과 북미자유무역협정(NAFTA) 재협상, 미국의 세계무역기구(WTO) 탈퇴, 중국 환율조작국 지정 등 극단적인 생각들을 여과 없이 쏟아내며 세계 경제의 불안 요인으로 자리 잡았다. 트럼프가 당선되면 국제 금융시장이 충격을 받을 것이라는 `트럼프 리스크`가 회자될 정도다.

선명하고 거침없는 정치를 바라는 막연한 기대가 막말 드라마로 귀결되는 현실을 남의 일로만 생각해선 안 된다. 우리 정치권에도 막말·고함·욕설로 선명성을 과시하고 유권자에게 어필하려는 정치인들이 허다하다. 이들을 신속하게 제어하지 못한다면 내년 우리 대통령 선거도 비전 대신 막말과 추태가 난무할 수 있다. 트럼프를 반면교사로 삼아야 한다.
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