The point is that [the global authoritarian movement] will exist no matter what happens to Trump. They command vast economic resources; they run the governments in many countries where the government never changes; they have deep tentacles into the U.S. political system and many of its key players are from the U.S. Trump didn’t create this movement precisely. But his role in global politics over the last decade solidified it as a self-conscious group and congealed it together. Any movement of civic democratic revival in the U.S. will be menaced by its continued existence. Now is the time to think about how a revived and revitalized civic democratic movement in the U.S. could combat it and avoid being destroyed by it.
Trump is a symptom, not the cause.
Eh, Not entirely. Trump is a symptom, for sure. But he has also set an example with unexpected political success that has inspired many right wing leaders and candidates into emulating him in ways that they would have otherwise been more reticent to do before.
And like it or not, it has been popular enough that surprisingly far right candidates have found themselves winning elections all over the world. I think the appeal is simply the “reform” aspect of it, the rejection of the recent norms and the status quo that the right finds distasteful, whereas the left has been coasting off the general social progress from the naughties to mid-2010s and so reformist candidates on the left have held less appeal for some. I do not think that so many would have taken such an extreme rightward divergence from the norm all at once without the example that Trump set. He’s inspired the right to embrace the far right and avoid centricism except as occasional mouth service when convenient.
That being said, that example has been set and the damage is done. Trump having an aneurysm tomorrow would change very little. The right now realizes that they can utilize cult mentality and vitriol, shift further and further right and sweep elections with it.
A new example needs to be set.