The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again

Something is happening among America’s allies, and it’s a tremendous relief. For some years now, we’ve seen the MAGA-infused global right gaining a foothold amongst western democracies, largely driven by the same demagogic, nationalist, pseudo-populism that has fueled Donald Trump’s dominance on the American right.

Some countries like Hungary have served as a sort of experiment for the kind of post-democratic autocracies dreamt of by the modern right wing in which government co-opts, intimidates and de-legitimizes the political opposition to create an authoritarianism that dominates the culture and the politics without a lot of overt violence.

But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.

  • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.

    Sorry, wut??

    Can’t imagine what in the screaming goat fuck would lead you to this conclusion other than pure blind idiocy…

    🤷‍♂️ 🤡 🖕

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    You have to wonder what infects the minds of people such that they fall for this in other countries.

    I have a good idea what does it here.

    • shawn1122@lemm.ee
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      7 个月前

      To put it simply, the prosperity of Europeans and their descendants was paid for through the bloodshed of colonial exploitation. This created an inherently inequal world order.

      The world has become more equal post WW2 and the descendants of the greatest beneficiaries of that exploitation are now displeased that they don’t hold the same advantages their ancestors did. That’s why we have to go back. That’s why we have to make _____ great again.

      Most PoC can hear these dogwhistles (if you can even call them that) from a mile away.

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    7 个月前

    I can’t assuredly say we have beat conservative populism yet, but we are at least bringing competence to government.

    The issue we haven’t solved is that many young people now are coming of age upon a platter of socially engineered falsehood.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    Salon, huffpo, msnbc ffs. These are the hopium sites favored by the beaten left, because actual corporate journalism collapsed under it’s own ignorance and greed a long time ago.

    The NYT will trot out a hopium piece every once in awhile like rainbow-flagging-the-logo for Pride month, but it’s all clickbait.

    Who are you going to vote for in the midterms? The left needs to get its shit together. Propaganda, corruption, and blatant lies are kicking our ass.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      7 个月前

      The problem is that we don’t have a left party; the closest are the Democrats and they’re Republicans in all but name.

      • Optional@lemmy.world
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        7 个月前

        I don’t buy that. I think there are a number of old corporate Dems who need to get the boot. But that’s all up to the Democratic voters to do.

        It’s not that complicated in principle, it’s just that complicated once one is out in the real world.

  • hardcoreufo@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    You’re welcome rest of the world. Now be nice to those of us who have to suffer another 4 years.

    • aramova@infosec.pub
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      7 个月前

      As long as you voted against him, yes.

      If someone said “oh they’re both the same” or “Kamala didn’t make her position clear enough on ______” or any of the other excuses, they need to bear the full brunt of their (in)decision.

      I’ve zero sympathy for those fools.

      • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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        7 个月前

        Very right wing of you to have no sympathy for people born less intelligent than you. Fools should not be blamed. A system that allows fools to be swayed and to be the deciding factor is where the blame should go.

        • Trihilis@ani.social
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          7 个月前

          Even the dumbest person knows how to be kind to others. You don’t have to be smart to not want to wish ill upon others.

          People vote for Trump purely because they want others to suffer more than they do. If you vote for someone who wants to deport “brown people” then you know fully he won’t be kind to them. If you vote for someone who wants to punish others for doing trade then you know fully well people will suffer. If you think being gay, trans or whatever is a disease and people should be punished for it then there is something very wrong with you.

          I indeed have no sympathy for people who voted for Trump. If you voted for him you’re an asshole and just want people to suffer.

          • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            The trump voters I know of aren’t really people who want others to suffer. I am sure there are plenty who do of course. But ask why. The answer is that they have been fooled into thinking other people are effectively attacking thier way of life. Or that the people suffering are murderers and rapists. They simply don’t have the mental abilities to realize they have been fooled.

        • Kage520@lemmy.world
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          7 个月前

          I don’t know. Unintelligent or even uneducated is easy to label the Maga crowd, and certainly many of them deserve that. But not all of them. I know a few who are well educated but just seem racist or 'i got mine" types.

          • korazail@lemmy.myserv.one
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            7 个月前

            That’s really the crux. There are two trump voters: There are 1) the easily swayed, misled, gullible, uninformed, and other adjectives that imply they are just not fully aware of what is going on; and then 2) the evil assholes who know fully that they are breaking things because they stand to profit from the breakage.

            Class 1 deserves our compassion, and should be helped to understand why their choices hurt themselves and society.

            Class 2 needs to be evicted from this reality.

          • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            Yes there are woefully evil regardless of education. Even if you tried to nurture them with better ideas they’d reject it.

            Incels come to mind.

        • aramova@infosec.pub
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          7 个月前

          Fools should not be blamed. A system that allows fools to be swayed […bad grammar…] is where the blame should go.

          While the system bears its share of blame, it is the unquestioning enablers, those who readily consume its dictates, who breathe life into its flaws. Just as tolerance cannot survive by tolerating intolerance, wisdom cannot flourish when we indulge foolishness. To dismantle a flawed system, we must first challenge those who sustain it.

          • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            I agree that “wisdom cannot flourish when we indulge foolishness.” So we need to change the system so that it does not indulge foolishness.

        • AlexLost@lemm.ee
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          7 个月前

          Blaming the system is a cop out. It didn’t happen before, because the electorate held their representatives to some kind of standard. Now, your representatives tell you what to think and y’all just nod your heads like lambs to the slaughter

          • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            Social media really changed the playing field. It is much easier to inundate people with messaging and such that will fool a much greater part of the population. Yet the system hasn’t adjusted.

        • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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          7 个月前

          The incels had a choice to listen to reason. They went out of their way to bully. Many ppl vulnerable got affected by this unfairly.

          That’s not a stupidity that needs an advocate.

      • thedruid@lemmy.world
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        7 个月前

        both parties are the same in many ways doesn’t mean I voted for trump I voted Harris. I knew Trump’s hate was worse than the Dems obliviousness

    • Smoogs@lemmy.world
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      7 个月前

      Be nice to the people threatening to annex and bomb an ally… ? you be nice first.

  • cosmicrookie@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    I wouldn’t give Trump the credit for this. Yeah he is a great example of how bad it can get but the move to the left has been long on its way and picking up speednfornsome time! Trump may have boosted a snowball that was already rolling

    • entwine413@lemm.ee
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      7 个月前

      Except it’s really not a move to the left, it’s just a slight slowing down of the move to the right. Fascism is currently gaining footholds in much of the western world.

      So, while the handful of left victories are great, it’s super dangerous to frame them as a reversal of fascism.

  • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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    7 个月前

    He only got reelected because Democrats seemed to care about twenty other things more than the working class. If they can’t figure that out things are only going to get worse. They’ll probably get worse no matter what, the only question is who people will blame. It should be the elite class but they’ll blame poor voters on the other team and nonvoters instead.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    7 个月前

    As long as neoliberals are the only alternative, fascism will always come back.

        • sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz
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          7 个月前

          No one is saying neoliberalism is as far right as fascism. However fascism has a cloak of populism that it can hide under that neoliberalism can never do because they are tied to corporate interests in varying degrees. As such, a lot of working class people gravitate towards fascists who pay lip service to working class struggles.

          At the end of the day, both neoliberals and fascists benefit from an undereducated and overworked population. That is why we need true alternatives that support the working class

          • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            At the end of the day, both neoliberals and fascists benefit from an undereducated and overworked population. That is why we need true alternatives that support the working class

            Pretty much what I was referring to. I think the difference is a matter of motivation. Fascists want power and complete control, neoliberals don’t, but either one would applaude streets paved with dead bodies if it lowered costs by 10%.

          • Logi@lemmy.world
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            7 个月前

            No one is saying neoliberalism is as far right as fascism.

            GP comment said exactly that though. Although they did throw in an “about”.

      • dryfter@lemm.ee
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        7 个月前

        I always say I have to be hit over the head with a frying pan to learn my lesson, but jesus I could tell Trump was not good for America when he started running for his first term.

        And now I’ll suffer for it because I’m part of the “parasite” class.

        • michel@lemmy.ml
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          7 个月前

          And the Republican Party is obviously a lost cause when they held that CPAC conference in Budapest of all places

    • Sanctus@lemmy.world
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      7 个月前

      I’ll take it. Really. It sucks for us. But if this is what it takes to get everyone else to kick this bullshit ass ideology and actually get on with progress over stagnation let’s fucking go.

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    7 个月前

    I honestly don’t see a way out of this other than a war against the fascists. Something like the American civil war where the racists got their asses thoroughly beaten, or WWII, where the Nazis got absolutely crushed. I feel like it’s just one of those things that pops up once in a while. Basically, fascists are the herpes of society.

    • DarkGamer@fedia.io
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      7 个月前

      This American situation is partly the long tail of the failure of reconstruction; Confederates got their asses handed to them but they were never properly removed from power. Now the racists are once again in charge, their monuments still stand, their flag is still flown, and the southern strategy is central to their political power.

      Compare this to Germany, who stripped Nazis from power, outlawed their symbols, and have guard rails to prevent fascist movements from rising again. (They are now being used against AfD.)

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        7 个月前

        That combined with the fact that the US in many ways is a confederation jury rigged into a federation doesn’t help. Even if we killed every white person in the South after the civil war I suspect we would still be dealing with the same basil issues just with a different coat of paint. Most of the issues are caused by regional issues, proto-nationalism, and a failing Imperial identity.

        • CosmicTurtle0 [he/him]@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 个月前

          While it’s true that tribalism is essentially a human, if not evolutionary trait, we could have made it damn near harder for fascists from gaining power. To start, stripping them from any political office (local or federal) and then banning them or any soldier that fought for the Confederacy.

          States that seceded basically should have been converted to non-voting territories unless they agreed whole cloth to codify abolition into the Constitution, reparations to the North and to their slaves.