Trumpism’ is ingrained in white America. When he goes, it will remain

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/28/donald-trump-white-america-republican-party

 

The Republican party’s leader is no anomaly, he’s a voice for its deep-seated radicalised base who suddenly find themselves in the mainstream

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Thu 28 Dec ‘17 07.16 ESTLast modified on Thu 28 Dec ‘17 08.31 EST

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The author Tom Wolfe once wrote: “The dark night of fascism is always descending in the United States and yet lands only in Europe.” He was reflecting a consensus, shared by public and scholars alike, that far right politics is a European phenomenon, at odds with “American values”. It is a conviction so deeply held that it has left the US blind to reality.

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Any example of far-right politics is explained away as exceptional, not representative of the “real” America, from “lone wolf” terrorists such as the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to the rise of Trumpism.

Rather than address the structural conditions that have made anti-government militias a permanent presence in the US, but not in any other advanced democracy, or which have fuelled previous populist radical right movements such as the Tea Party, explanations focus on individuals such as Donald Trump or their Rasputin figures such as Steve Bannon.

Calling the far right 'un-American' might make for good politics, but it expresses a blatant lack of historical understanding

This “externalisation” of the far right was at its height during the 2016 presidential campaign, in which Trump was portrayed as a political anomaly who had hijacked the Republican party. Conservatives and mainstream Republicansargued that he didn’t really represent what was at heart a moderate conservative party.