You may have heard that on Sunday Iran’s ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a personal letter to Trump, which he published on his personal website in both Farsi and English.
He bizzarely stated that the letter was in ‘no way political’ but ‘from one human to another’. Throughout his 3,500 word letter he addresses a number of issues ranging from women’s rights, corruption in the American political system and US military spending. He also heavily criticises the Trump administration's immigration policies, calling out the lack of respect towards diversity of nations and races and claiming that ‘the contemporary US belongs to all nations’.
So what do people think about this?
The irony of the situation is in that fact that from the beginning of Trump’s campaign, many Iranians branded Trump as ‘the American Ahmadinejad’, and even started the hashtag #Trumpnejad to comment on the many similarities between the two.
Iranians immediately and instinctively saw Ahmadinejad in Trump: thus the hashtag #Trumpnejad @naderalihashemi @borzou @sarahleah1
— Danny Postel (@DannyPostel) February 26, 2017
@thehill lol, Ahmadinejad and Trump are two side of the same coin: populism.
— Mohsen Ghasem-Nejad (@GnejadMohsen) February 26, 2017
@jimjefferies have you noticed? there is an uncanny mental resemblance between #trump and the former P #ahmadinejad.
— Albus Zorg (@amin0o) February 11, 2017
"Trump is plainly populist and unpredictable – an American version of Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,"… pic.twitter.com/FFI5uEmk1s
— Tomorrow divers (@tomorrowdivers) February 7, 2017
Aside from sharing the ability to make outlandishly bold and isolating comments (remember when Ahmadinejad denied the Holocaust?), the similarities actually run alot deeper.
As Reza Marashi wrote in his article earlier this year for the Cairo Review Ahmadinejad’s rise to power also took place in the context of populist discontent;
“Fast- forward eleven years, and the American electorate may be in a similar place. Like Ahmadinejad, Trump has locked in his base of ultra-conservative voters, tapped into a large pool of economically disillusioned voters, and won over anti-establishment votes.”
Even Ahamdinejad's campaign slogan which focussed on creating new opportunities for the ‘average Ali’ resonates with Trump’s pledge to ‘Make America Great Again’. We only hope that Trump fails to follow Ahmadinejad's footsteps in staying in office for a second term…
