Donald ducks

Racism is a terrible sin. Yet it seems, these days, to have the potential to produce political leverage. And politicians are sadly prepared to use it.

Back in July, President Donald Trump was rightly in hot water for tweets concerning four Democratic congresswomen of black or ethnic minority background that they should ‘go back’ to the countries they were from, despite the fact that they are all American citizens, three of whom were actually born in the United States. The House of Representatives passed a motion condemning the President’s words. Trump ducked the criticism by saying that his comments were not racist, but to do with the fact that the radical left-wing politics of these women is against what America stands for as a society. Since then, at the beginning of August, there have been two more mass shootings in the US, in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, at least one of which targeted non-white people. Trump responded by saying ‘hatred has no place in America.’ But is he giving mixed messages?

National populism and liberalism

With an election just over the horizon and Trump seeking a second term, what this is really about is the President trying to stir the fires of national populism among American voters. Commentators saw his comments about the four congresswomen as his attempt to stick an ‘anti-American’ label on the Democratic Party. He was originally elected on the slogan ‘make America great again’ and he is now persisting with that idea via a different route. National populism (closely akin to fascism in the eyes of many) is on the rise in many countries, and certainly played a part in the Brexit vote. It can be seen as a grassroots reaction against the liberalism which has dominated the West for a long time. With immigration, street crime and the LGBT agenda no doubt in mind, President Putin of Russia mischievously commented this summer that liberalism ‘has come into conflict with the overwhelming majority of the population’ as he determines to justify his own form of heavy-handed government. He may want to make trouble for the West, but is there an element of truth in his words? If we ask about the roots of national populism we can detect at least four.