Christian Salmon. Photo DR
How is Donald Trump different?
“He transgresses all the habits of speech and behavior that we expected of a great leader. In his language, he mixes insults, interjections, unfinished sentences, anathemas… He mixes all the subjects with a common point, the rejection of the other. »
What you call the “ trash talk » (langage orduries) ?
” Exactly. Trump also stands out for his campaign: meetings where he plays a sort of reality TV actor, and interventions on social networks. The networks do not call for discussion, democratic dissensus, but encourage the rejection of others with the algorithms of his friend Elon Musk. As for reality TV, to which Trump owes his notoriety, it is also the confusion of the real and the imaginary, the true and the false, the political incarnation which transforms into self-exhibition. »
“It is important to distinguish Trump from Trumpism”
Hence the general disbelief?
“It’s discredit. In 2008, Barack Obama said ''Yes, we can''(Yes, we can), he tried in the face of the financial crisis to restore credibility to political action. In 2016, Donald Trump does not seek to legitimize himself, to embody a skill or hope – he rides on general discredit, like a banker of anger. »
Does Trumpism have a future in France?
“It is important to distinguish Trump from Trumpism. Trumpism was born from the meeting of the crisis of neoliberalism, with the financial crisis, and the digital revolution and its social networks which provide a sounding board for discredit. Trumpism began with Brexit and continued in the United Kingdom with Boris Johnson, in Brazil with Jair Bolsonaro, in Argentina with Javier Milei… They are emancipating themselves from all the limits which are the basis of the pact of democratic representation, of beliefs collective in competence, in the virtues of deliberation…
In France there is a form of political specificity. Marine Le Pen, for example, is wary of the excesses of Trumpism and tries to establish the National Rally as a government party, which respects the dignity of debates in the Assembly – it may only be appearance, but this meets a tradition which remains dominant in France. This does not prevent seismic movements in our society of denial of politics, with certain television channels which surf on these movements to fuel general discredit. »
“Emmanuel Macron practices a polite transgression”
Do we find Trumpism in Emmanuel Macron?
“I wouldn’t say it like that. But he was elected in 2017 as a new man proposing all kinds of transgressions, and he thus helped to discredit usual politics. And he doesn't bother with consistency, sometimes saying everything and its opposite, but in a more civilized way than Trump – let's say he practices a polite transgression. »
The Empire of Discredit by Christian Salmon (Les Liens qui Libération).
France
