The concerning rise of Trumpism is a cause for global apprehension and should be rightly so, due to the magnitude of its attendant short and long term consequences.
My ultimate fear is not Donald Trump as a man but the ideology of Trumpism. He is not the first leader of a developed democracy to have a personality problem but to the best of my knowledge, he is by far the most depraved personality example in modern times.
Yes, it is easy to say that the American democracy as we know it, has survived an underestimated democratic onslaught but it is too early to rejoice.
No doubt, Donald Trump and Mike Pence would relinquish political powers come 20th of January, 2021 and the mantle of leadership would inevitably fall on Joseph R. Biden Jnr and Lady Kamala Harris, to the joy of many on the pro-democracy side of the American political divide.
However, the ideology of Trumpism would remain, and dangerously so.
Let me put it bluntly, Donald Trump lost the 2020 US Presidential Election on personality grounds. If he had been more circumspect and slightly diplomatic in his approach, the Democrats wouldn’t have stood any chance.
I want to believe that the next ultra-right candidate would seek to avoid Trump‘s pitfalls. This could pose a real danger to the Democrats.
Biden’s administration would have to contend with the effect of a deep-seated, and now emboldened political ideology of Trumpism. This, the incoming administration would have to do throughout the entire 4-year tenure or maybe the 8-years tenure.
Whatever happens during this period, political powers must not fall back into the grasp of the ultra-right groups, thereafter.
Donald Trump has never been the actual problem of America and would never be, but the real problems of the American society are those ultra-right minded group of citizens who are disenchanted with the American political structures, the future direction and the socio-cultural reshaping of the American landscape, as enabled and ennobled by the perceived left-wing agenda.
Now, these ultra-right groups have tasted political powers, and have now pragmatically understood the usefulness of political powers in furthering their socio-cultural agendas.
They have now also realised that they would not necessarily gain access to, and sustain these political powers by utilising the existing political structures in America.
More so, they inherently consider the practice of democracy as inimical to the actualization of their goals, albeit subjective.
Hence, the open disdain for political normalcy and the peddling of false narratives within the American polity.
There, my friends lie the problem. A real problem for American society.
Should the ultra-right regain political power in America, they would no longer guarantee their subjection to the democratic ideals that facilitate elections.
Implying that should the ultra-right regain political power in America, there may not be an election in America again, or at least, in the meantime.
This would cut into the ‘Admission to the Union Clause’ of the Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution and May, upon further strain, lead to the dissolution of the Union altogether.
Let me quickly point out that what the American democratic society is facing is a sign of declining world power. We have seen this pattern before, and after the American led civilization, another generation will still see it.
The Concerning Rise of Trumpism – Part 1
America is in a decline but Trumpism, not Donald Trump would hasten it.
LIKE GERMANY, LIKE AMERICA
The emergence of Trumpism within the American democratic system draws eerie similarities to the early 20th-century German Democratic society.
Following the 1st World War, the responses and the approaches of the politicians and a section of the German citizenry, as well as the stances of neighbouring countries made the emergence of the ultra-right-wing groups in Germany possible.
The responses of the traditional political class and the academia in Germany were similar to what we hear coming out of America today: “Our democracy is resilient and would survive the onslaught”, “Adolf Hitler and the German Working Party Members are jokers, and have resigned the use of reason”, “The German system will auto-correct itself and these people will eventually pale into insignificance”, “Majority of Adolf Hitler’s followers are unintelligible”, and so on.
By 1925 majority of the German Democrats were tired of apologizing to the world on behalf of their cherished and beloved Germany and were already living in exile.
The inevitable happened – The pursuit of a narrow and egoistic set of objectives pitched Germany against the World’s Allied Forces, to their destruction, I reckoned.
Relying solely on the resilience and strength of the American democracy to defeat Trumpism and other ultra-right agenda would spell irreparable doom for America.
Just like the fall of Germany in the early 20th century was unbelievable, so is the plausible fall of America, should Trumpism be given the opportunity to take deeper roots.
The rest of the world teaming up militarily to fight off an ultra-right America is now plausible.
Implying that a day may come when the world would look up to Industrial China, bureaucratic European Union and disruptive Russia for pragmatic leadership against an increasingly chaotic and self-absorbed America.
Diplomatically, it is already happening with Donald Trump’s America going alone against other countries at the UN Round tables and other global platforms.
A recent example is the US deliberate opposition to the globally popular and credible choice of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the next Director-General of the World Trade Organization. How about the US disconnection from the Paris Climate Accord as well as the Iranian Nuclear Disarmament Agreement?
All of these portend a very concerning trend which could lead to the unfolding of events that could challenge the world peace dynamics if left to mature.
Donald Trump’s populism needs more time to fester before an average American would lose interest in the sanctity and sacrosanctness of democratic ideals.
Safe to say that Trumpism favours autocratic political mechanism to the huge disadvantage of democracy.
Let’s take a simplistic look at what led to the emergence of German Adolf Hitler and American Donald Trump to have a better understanding of the direction of global events:
- The Failure of Democracy
There was a general public perception in the then Germany that the Weimar Republic experience of democracy led by Gustav Stresemann failed them.
The 1919 Treaty of Versailles which led to the German hyperinflation and the payment of reparations to other countries by Germany was considered the failure of German Democracy. This gave the ultra-right an in-road into the German political powers.
Similarly, the restlessness of the ultra-right leaning Americans is premised on the pursuit of America’s exceptionalism and its attendant problems.
This is the main reason why the mantra of “Make America Great Again” resonates with a section of America population, consequently, the push for a candidate that would advance protectionism and nationalism.
The acceptance of Trumpism is premised on the ultra- right-leaning citizens’ dissatisfaction with their politicians’ handling of immigrations, increasing unemployment rates, whether perceived or real, perceived declining America’s role on the global stage, and the pronounced emergence of Industrial China on the global socio-political landscape, as well as the increasing dominance of China in the South Asian Corridor, among others.
These variables among others led to the emergence of Trump and Trumpism with its promise of a more assertive stance on the global stage.
The ultra-right Americans consider the above variables as the failure of democracy as currently being practiced in America.
The Concerning Rise of Trumpism – Part 1
