Saturday, February 13, 2016

The rise of Trumpism

Charles Murray has an excellent article about how the rise of Donald Trump is a reaction to the country's drift away from the American Creed:
Still, even that character is ultimately rooted in the American creed. When faith in that secular religion is held only by fragments of the American people, we will soon be just another nation—a very powerful one, a very rich one, still called the United States of America. But we will have detached ourselves from the bedrock that has made us unique in the history of the world.
He suggests there's been an anti-establishment backlash that has helped both Trump and Sanders:
There is nothing conservative about how they want to fix things. They want a now indifferent government to act on their behalf, big time. If Bernie Sanders were passionate about immigration, the rest of his ideology would have a lot more in common with Trumpism than conservatism does.
And this reminds me of an eye-opening statement from a Sanders supporter, heard on NPR's Morning Edition:
FOLKENFLIK: Drejza supports Sanders. But he has a backup.
DREJZA: If he doesn't get it, I might just want to blow up D.C. and vote for Trump – totally just vote for that fool Trump and just see if he could blow up D.C.
There are many facets to the anger in the electorate, but despair over the future is bubbling over.

No comments: