The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again
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Something is happening among America’s allies, and it’s a tremendous relief. For some years now, we’ve seen the MAGA-infused global right gaining a foothold amongst western democracies, largely driven by the same demagogic, nationalist, pseudo-populism that has fueled Donald Trump’s dominance on the American right.
Some countries like Hungary have served as a sort of experiment for the kind of post-democratic autocracies dreamt of by the modern right wing in which government co-opts, intimidates and de-legitimizes the political opposition to create an authoritarianism that dominates the culture and the politics without a lot of overt violence.
But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.
You have to wonder what infects the minds of people such that they fall for this in other countries.
I have a good idea what does it here.
To put it simply, the prosperity of Europeans and their descendants was paid for through the bloodshed of colonial exploitation. This created an inherently inequal world order.
The world has become more equal post WW2 and the descendants of the greatest beneficiaries of that exploitation are now displeased that they don’t hold the same advantages their ancestors did. That’s why we have to go back. That’s why we have to make _____ great again.
Most PoC can hear these dogwhistles (if you can even call them that) from a mile away.