Some of my Facebook friends seem to support Trump over Biden according to their posts. Many of them are liberals in Japanese politics. So, I don’t quite understand how they could ever support a man like Trump.
Having said that, Trump’s popularity has been around in Japan since he was elected back in 2016.
One reason he pleased many Japanese people was that he withdrew the United States from TPP, Trance Pacific Partnership.
TPP was unpopular among Japanese liberals, regarded as a globalized system where only big corporations would benefit. The U.S. withdrawal would mean the end of TPP, but stupidly, Abe decided to continue being part of TPP without the U.S. Trump’s act ended up in vain.
Trump also hinted that he would withdraw U.S. bases out of Japan, which has been a dream for Japanese liberals.
He gave us the impression that he was fighting against the military-industrial complex and Wall Street.
This year, his policy toward COVID 19 has reinforced his popularity since many people in Japan believe the coronavirus pandemic is a total fake. Some of them believe it is a conspiracy by the medical industry who wants to sell vaccines, and others don’t think that far but still feel the way the pandemic is handled is exaggerated, and some of the measures implemented are unnecessary, or even making the situation worse. There have been reports saying lockdowns can weaken your immune system since you might have vitamin D deficiency by not exposing yourselves to sunlight. Wearing masks even when you are walking or jogging can debilitate your condition. Vaccines can have side effects and can enfeeble your immune system. All those things make you more vulnerable to the virus. These reports are coming from medical experts. Yet, the media labels reports from just some group of experts “Science”, and if you don’t go along with it, you are labeled as unscientific.
Joe Biden, on the contrary to Trump, says he will rejoin WHO if he is elected. He seems to go along with official measures.
The stances on COVID seems to be the biggest factor that people prefer Trump to Biden at the moment. The pandemic is an international issue, and decisions of a superpower like the U.S. will have a substantial impact worldwide, and if the conspiracy is real, it is orchestrated on a global scale; hence it becomes the biggest issue.
Recently, though, many people who support Trump seem to believe that Trump is saving many children who are sexually abused by some of the big names in business and politics. I thought it was a little far fetched, and when I checked the sources, some of them were from QAnon, a group supporting Trump.
It seems that Japanese people are getting information from mixed sources, and the conspiracy theory about COVID and the conspiracy theory spread by QAnon have merged and twisted the scenario.
The problem is that the information they get is translated from English or Russian, and it is difficult for them to check the source. And they don’t hear Trump speak directly and haven’t heard all the racist and sexist comments he has made.
Personally, I wouldn’t support Trump even if he fought against the establishment because of his policies on many issues such as immigration, and I wouldn’t buy the conspiracy theory spread by QAnon. If Trump is the savior as they say, why did he try to build the wall at the Mexican border, or why did he restrict tourists from Arab nations entering the U.S., or why did he send troops to the demonstrators during the Blak Lives Matter Movement?
Having said that, I can’t say I would support Biden either. I would have supported the Democratic Party if Bernie Sanders had been elected to be the candidate, but Biden seems to have strong ties with Wall Street and probably with the military-industrial complex. The fact that media appears to be backing Biden reinforces that idea, too. I have been only watching BBC and CNN, and as far as they are concerned, both of them sound in favor of Biden, more so with CNN. Therefore when Trump calls CNN news fake news, you can’t ridicule him entirely; it does appear one-sided.
I don’t know if you remember when Sanders and Biden were racing, Biden gained popularity all the sudden, within a few days, mostly with the endorsements by other candidates. It seemed to me whoever didn’t want Sanders to win intervened.
Whether you agree with QAnon or reject their idea completely, we need to know that they aren’t the only people believing in the conspiracy theory as far as the coronavirus is concerned; therefore, the fact that it is their theory shouldn’t discredit the COVID conspiracy theory itself.
I don’t mean to say I believe in the conspiracy theory, but I don’t think we should be caught up by the political propaganda from both sides, either; we need to look at each issue separately. Yes, black lives matter, and so does the health of humanity. We should question the global stance against the coronavirus carefully and fairly, not because one policy is supported by Trump or Biden. There could be a conspiracy about COVID, or there may not be. Yet, do we need vaccines or lockdowns when the opinions are divided among medical experts? If the media is taking the virus so seriously why don’t they criticize food conglomerates producing sugar-filled products, GMO products, and factory-farmed meat, which can weaken your immune system?
It looks like Biden will win, but that is not the end of the game. We need to keep working toward the interests of the 99%.
The Ikigai Diet: The Secret Japanese Diet to Health and Longevity
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