Both Donald Trump and Hong Kong’s localist movement are tapping a vein of popular anger

It should be easy to understand the ideology of Donald Trump in Hong Kong – he is just like a Hong Kong “localist” but on an American scale. Of course, everything is bigger in the US than in Hong Kong, including the people and the media hype. Joshua Wong is short and Donald Trump is tall. But “Trumpism” in the US and the “Indigenous” movement in Hong Kong are essentially the same phenomenon.

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In much the same way that Hong Kong “localists” think of mainlanders, Trump thinks the US should keep away people from nearby territories with long historical links, such as Mexico. Not many people in this part of the world know that both California and Texas, two of the largest states, were “acquired” from Mexico after it was defeated by the US in 1848 – around the time that Hong Kong was “acquired” by Britain after the Opium War.

Those interested in the fantasy of “independence” for Hong Kong might want to read the history of the short-lived independent “California Republic”, which was taken over by the US in 1846. To this day, the state flag says “California Republic”, the only trace left of independence.

History, of course, cannot be undone and walls and borders give rise to different cultures in different territories over time. But walls can never completely seal in people and keep out cultural exchanges. Spanish has emerged as a de facto second language in many parts of the US and salsa now outsells ketchup in the US.

In the same way here, “mainland” influence in Hong Kong has not been kept out by the immigration checkpoints near Lo Wu.

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It is wrong to say that Trump is popular only with the uneducated and crude. The reason he is able to appeal to such large sections of the white working class is because such people feel globalisation and “free trade” have had a negative effect on their jobs and living standards. Similarly, a significant minority, not just in Hong Kong and but also in Taiwan, feel that China’s “opening” has not benefited them in the same way that it has the owners of businesses and capital looking for cheaper labour.

Politics is, in the end, not about morality but about how people perceive their self-interest and whether they think a certain candidate will represent and fight for that interest. That is why Trump and the “localist” movement should be taken seriously, whether we like them and agree with them, or not.