Trumpism Never Existed
Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest in Los Angeles, California, on January 6, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
- Cambodianess
- January 8, 2021 7:03 AM
As Donald Trump is about to leave the White House after trying everything—and not short of the worst—to remain there in spite of losing the election on Nov. 4, 2020, we hear commentators wondering what will become of “Trumpism.”
Trumpism? As if that man had invented a political movement, an economic doctrine or anything sound for the human community, which would deserve to be passed on to posterity to shape the destiny of civilizations.
Protectionism, nationalism, populism, conspiracy theories, white supremacism: This is the cocktail that Trump has pitched on social media and the media to accede to the presidency of the United States and attempt to entrench himself in it.
This unappetizing mix may seem to some to be a kind of political program, which is likely to endure, with or without Trump, and which could be called “Trumpism.”
Let’s point out that this movement, whose most extremist supporters blossom in extreme-right movements, is far from an American specialty even if the Trump presidency has provided it with an unprecedented exposure and especially has, in a way, legitimized it.
But what mainly puts Donald Trump beyond the scope of politicians with a vision, thoughts turned toward the common good, is his incapacity to have a world vision. The world stops with him, comes down to his personal interests, is expressed in his megalomania, his authoritarianism.
For four years, we have not dealt with a president of the United States but with a president for whom the highest office of the land was but an attribute of his own person.
No: “Trumpism” does not exist because his confederates should understand that, in the eyes of Trump, only Trump and his personal power matter.
Many autocrats dress up their power with an ideology to give themselves legitimacy in the eyes of their people and History. But History knows how to clean up and put them in their rightful place.
On Jan. 20, there will no longer be a President Trump or “Trumpism” except in the style of conduct of politics in which lying is made a virtue.
However, the bad seeds he has sowed and grown are not done poisoning the United States and the World.
