The world no longer cares about the codes of public decorum, nor the values that were once considered progressive. Nor does corruption seem to matter unless it touches people’s lives directly.
Two decades ago, someone like Trump might not have even had a first chance, let alone a second. But the world has changed, and one country after another is being handed over by its citizens to strange leaders, who have no qualms—nor any reason—to hide their intent to restrict individual freedoms.
Viktor Orbán, waving the banner of an “illiberal state,” has managed to win three elections in Hungary. Once the black sheep, he is now close to becoming part of the establishment. In Argentina, Javier Milei defeated his opponent in last year’s elections, proudly embracing the nickname he earned in school: “El Loco” (the madman). In the Netherlands and Austria, far-right parties are now in power, while in Italy, Giorgia Meloni has risen to prominence with her right-wing rhetoric, even if she has softened her stance somewhat. The memory of Jair Bolsonaro’s leadership in Brazil is still fresh: a supporter of the death penalty, against abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and immigrants, an advocate of conspiracy theories and a climate crisis denier.Positions like his are, more or less, common among all these leaders, on a path paved by Trump, who now returns triumphantly in an increasingly grim climate.
The issue at hand is not whether Democrats are better than Republicans, the left better than the right, or liberals better than conservatives. It is not about parties and ideologies. It is about individuals—individuals who prove to be both more powerful and more dangerous. During Trump’s previous term, analysts spoke of “Trumpism.” They noted, at the end of his presidency, that although he had gone, Trumpism remained.
Not only did it remain, but it became entrenched and spread across the world, almost as a dominant ideology without any real counterbalance. Young people, the economically weaker, and even immigrants from the previous generation who managed to grab a small piece of the Western pie, are voting for Trump and his imitators—to protect themselves from new immigrants, to gain the right to bear arms, to kill anyone they perceive as threatening their property or values.
They say Trump will end the wars. Perhaps he will, but isn’t there another war happening in parallel—a war against democratic values? How can we stop that war?
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