The world has reasons to fear Donald Trump

2016 has been a tough year for some people who hoped for greater equality, parity and a level playing field for everyone, irrespective of their race, religion, political views, gender or sexual orientation.

We've had enough time to come to terms with January, 20, 2017, when Donald Trump will be officially sworn-in as the President of the United States of America.

Some great minds like Malcolm Gladwell, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Stephen Hawking and many other celebrities were silenced by his victory. Things stopped at a petition and people briefly took to the streets to protest against Trump's victory. There were articles talking about what the big deal is and why other countries would even be so bothered. We've resigned to the inevitable.

In a world where just eight of the richest people own the same assets as 50 per cent of the poor (Oxfam report at World Economic Forum 2017), Trump is the manifestation of gross inequality and social polarisation. The World Economic Forum said this phenomenon of division can be a threat to globalisation itself. And that is why it's a big deal for every country.

In the meantime, Trump is busy choosing his nominees to the White House and unabashedly displaying his megalomania and obscene bias towards wealth. The list of what's wrong with his nominees is long but I was lost at Steve Bannon and Scott Pruitt.

One would think the position of US president would tone him down but that is not to be. Bannon's claim to fame is that he is a famed supporter of the Alt-Right and ran their magazine, Breitbart.

A quick google search tells you everything that's wrong - racist, anti-feminist, anti-semitic and homophobic thinking. Abusive language is what he shares in common with Trump. Here's a quotable quote from him:

“That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement,” he said, according to BuzzFeed. “That, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women.” (Political Vindication Radio, 2011)

Scary!

His nominee for secretary of state for environment, Scott Pruitt, debunks and denies climate change although he has no background in science or environmental studies or anything like that. He studied political science. Yet he deigns to disagree with roughly more than 90 per cent of the scientists in the world.

In the past, he has had close ties with Exxon Mobil, an organisation that's been in the news much too often for its impact on the environment. Naturally, there has already been talk of the US pulling out of the Paris Agreement on reducing carbon emissions.

How does the world care? The US has the world's largest carbon emissions.

According to the Economist, 2017 would unleash a wave of right-wing politics across Europe. India already has its share of divisive politics - any discussion on any topic comes down to "why are you telling us, why not the Muslims?" To me, Islamophobia is here and very real.

Yet, why should you and I care in our country? Islamophobia, homophobia, rejection of immigrants, regionalism and regional politics - everything hints at fear and division. This is an environment where the rights of the weak are the first to go out of the window.

Quite unfortunately, that would be women, the LGBTQIA group, children, animals and minorities. Their rights and concerns would become sidelined. As an analogy of an extreme situation, one of the biggest reasons for crime and atrocities against women in war-torn areas is the war itself.

At a time of unrest and fear, women's rights are often taken away in the guise of protection. While this is an extreme situation (yet it is happening in many parts of the world as we speak), a climate of fear and division also tends to take the dialogue away from the rights of minorities to other issues.

Above all, as the World Economic Forum says in a foreboding way, this confirms a threat to globalisation. Trump will quite literally erect walls between people.

At the very least, when your president uses a certain language, he sets the tone for others in the country. And when he is a world leader, then the world falls in line.

Also read: Trump's Meryl Streep attack shows just how petty America's new president is