It is a measure of how divided the United States has become that rarely in its history has seen a president to be subject to so much adulation among their supporters and such an intense disgust among their opponents.
The divisions were not caused by Trump; They were already there, since there were many other problems that exploded to get to power.
There is too much focus on the character and person of Trump. But he is much more than his personality. The reality is that Trump is not a single theme phenomenon. As a phenomenon, it is in the center of a complex set of problems that have been developed in the United States already worldwide in recent decades.
They include a decrease in the quality of democracy in advanced democracies, especially in the United States, and the excesses of capitalism and globalization that they had led to the emergence of a global elite that cared more about their own wealth than about economic and social justice, or even for national interest.
Democracy had become dominated by an impious alliance among capitalism led by the globalist, money, partisan media, politics, lobby and special interests. It is a well -kept secret that, apart from Aipac, the most successful lobby in the United States Congress is bank lobby. The magnitude of its impact was reflected in the horrible scale of the financial crisis of 2008.
The crisis was attributed to the bank deregulation approved by the United States Congress during the Clinton years that helped bankers to make billions at the expense of small owners who received loans for which they did not qualify, which led to massive mortgage executions.
Democracy had become the search for political power. This committed democracy helped politicians to be elected without doing much public service. Instead of listening to people and listening to their complaints, the leadership was busy fighting the wars abroad. The wars, prompted by the electoral policy and the economic and class of the elite, and the influence of the military-industrial complex, cost billions of dollars, causing not only large casualties of war, but also thousands of disabled war veterans who came to house intense repulsion against the elite.
By extension, antielite feeling eroded confidence in government, institutions and educated class and their knowledge, including that of medical sciences. That partly explained the anti -cacuna movement.
People felt that politicians and politics had failed them, a belief that Trump exploded when offering as an alternative. He improved his image as a non -political and, by extension, he sank Hillary, who was successfully demonized by his followers as part of the elite headquarters.
Trump exploded not only the antielite feeling but also public insecurities, caused by the threat of terrorism that began with September 11, as well as social discontent led by globalization and inequality of income that affects the lower classes. Not to mention your fear of potential instability and loss of jobs in the avalanche of refugees, asylum applicants and illegal immigrants, especially due to practically open borders in the south.
There has also been another factor. The class consciousness had reached western coasts, first in Europe and then in the United States, where white and education without lower classes felt victims and excluded at the hands of the forces that did not understand, which led them to look for scapegoats. This caused xenophobia, especially Muslim phobia, inciting a feeling of whites only at home and America abroad.
And then there was the cultural shock for traditional American values caused by Democrats with their left change in social issues such as abortion, gender equality and LGBTQ, and their talk about weapons control.
An important taxpayer to promote all this negativity in much of America has been the new revolutionary means that have commercialized the dissemination of information. These media began decades with 24/7 cable television, but since then it has exponentially expanded with the arrival of the Internet and social networks that progressively undermine the credibility of information.
Social networks have personalized the propagation of information, further degrading their authenticity. You could say anything in social networks, and with most people, it would happen as truth or some form of it. In addition to that, it would also spread like a forest fire. The credibility of the information has come to depend not so much on the evidence based on facts but on the influence, appeal or emotional retention of the source of information, whether a person, a group or a cult.
The main media, particularly printed, have tried to play a positive role, although limited, as a source of reliable news despite their commercial interests. However, his voice has been increasing Fox News.
Fox He discovered that the damaged democracy, in which the media themselves had been complicit to some extent, offered a great opportunity. The complaints and exclusions he had created were Grist for the media. Fox He developed the Prototype news network that was reproduced in the anxieties, fears, complaints and insecurities of the people. As society polarized, complaints multiplied.
With a dim bond with the truth and the enormous emotional attraction, Fox News was a perfect network for political propaganda and demagoguey. Trump and Fox He had a symbiotic relationship. Trump would not have received a 24/7 platform by any respectable means, a platform that did not need anyway, first due to Twitter (now X) and now Truth Social.
Trump could maintain his basis in emotional slavery telling them things that were clearly false and that the main media would not have believed or allowed to be disseminated. The reality is that if there had not been Fox News And Trump’s social networks would never have been chosen. Whether as a businessman or politician, Trump’s strength has been to control the message and keep the audience. And social networks provided that.
They were not just economic anxieties, driven by global and domestic forces, or terrorism security threats supposedly linked to the Muslim world that Trump exploded successfully. He also took advantage of the cultural alienation of Americans, nostalgia for an idealized white identity and a longing for a strong man. These problems planned to Trump; He did not create them. Instead, they provided ‘dragons to kill’ in his search for power, one that finally exercised for his own benefit and that of other billionaires.
The super rich have recovered behind Trump, united by their passion shared by the small government, which essentially translates into a minimum regulation, low taxes and a state of weak law. Its final objective is freedom without restrictions to accumulate wealth. The billionaires see Trump as the spearhead of an assault on institutions, surveillance agencies and the application of the law.
While Trump’s main reason is to erode responsibility and the rule of law to solidify his authoritarian grip, other billionaires will also benefit, gaining the freedom to accumulate wealth and participate in irregularities without fear of government supervision. This marks the return of the golden age of the United States.
Trump has a solid base of the middle of the United States, which has captivated in exchange for his help to address his economic, cultural, ethnic and security -related complaints. They want them to fight against the great government, the Democrats, “the radical left”, the so -called “radical Islam”, refugees, immigrants and foreign powers who take advantage of the United States.
That is why Trump seems to be on a war path every day, operating on so many fronts. If you cannot fix the economy, your base will still support you for any number of other reasons.
Essentially, there is a method in what Trump is doing. As a media and marketing genius, he will continue playing the media and controlling the message so that it never seems to have failed. This will not be true.
But for your base, anything Trump says is true by definition. How does the future of America affect? Too early to say it, but the signs are not good.
Discharge of responsibility: The views expressed in this piece are that of writer and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of PakGazette.TV.
The writer, former ambassador, is an attached professor at Georgetown University and visit Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore.
Originally published in the news
