Trump Is Not Trump

Donald Trump is the consequence of the desperation of a large part of the population and its need for an anti-establishment symbol like him. Trump may leave, but if the system is not rebuilt, there will be other Trumps in the United States and the world.

Now that the Capitol attack is in the past and in a few days Donald Trump will be, too, I wonder if the United States will again stand as the world’s symbol of democratic correctness. I think that this will not necessarily be the case, because Trump is not the one responsible for the existence of the anti-establishment movement that took the Capitol, but a consequence.

This man became president with the vote of 63 million Americans. And, while it is true that he could not manage to be reelected, in this past election 74 million people voted for him, even when faced with the economic disaster caused by the pandemic. And after four years in which the political, economic and media establishment considered him to be no more than a clown, he barely lost to Joe Biden in the Electoral College by four percentage points.

Undoubtedly, Trump’s outlandish character is typical of poor countries. His insults, lies and discriminatory behavior are normal among certain populist leaders. And the Capitol attack seems like a familiar image in countries with very low institutional standards.

However, we are not talking about the leader of a developing nation or outrageous events in a ruined country. The fact that this happened in the world’s most powerful country and the greatest liberal democracy speaks to the profound crisis that has beset this political system and the way it has organized society and managed social relationships.

After the Capitol insurrection, the first opinion poll showed that 45% of Americans totally or partly supported the action. The attackers may belong to small groups of crazy fanatics, but they reflect the anti-establishment spirit that allowed a deranged man like Trump to sit in the White House.

So, Trump is not the cause but the consequence of a capitalist democratic system that has failed to assure the next generation of Americans will have more money than the generation before it. Trump is a product of the unrest of small agricultural producers, industrial workers who lose their jobs and war veterans who return home and cannot rejoin the workforce.

Trump is not one of them, but he represents the desperate need of a large part of society to look to an anti-establishment symbol for the answers they no longer find in the democratic system they always believed in.

Trump may leave, but, if the system is not rebuilt, there will be other Trumps, in the United States and in the world.