In this post I am thinking out loud. I don’t understand America, but I am trying to. It is important to develop some analysis of what has just happened. As a Socialist I am deeply worried by the global shift to the authoritarian right, the growth of nationalism and the appeal of populist politics. I see it here in Aotearoa: in Seymour’s colonialist Treaty Principles Bill and in Jones’ empty promises of a future where every man, woman and child can stuff themselves with crayfish, the way he does. Trump is dangerous – environmentally, socially, globally. I have written posts about Trump before – gobsmacked as I was when he was first elected US President in 2017.
I am interested in how the political appeal of such an overtly flawed character is generated and sustained. What are the socio-economic drivers? What are the cultural / ideological settings (and shifts) that have made this possible? It is easy, perhaps too easy, to write-off the American voting public as inherently stupid. This is too simplistic. Americans aren’t stupid – indoctrinated and manipulated maybe – but not stupid, or at least no more stupid than the rest of the human race.