FIGAROVOX/TRIBUNE – It was in a burst of confidence in politics that Americans elected someone who, paradoxically, weakened American democracy, analyzes science historian Liv Grjebine.
An associate professor of history, Liv Grjebine teaches the history of science at Harvard, where she studies the relationship between science and society. His thesis, defended in 2018 at the University of Paris-I Panthéon-Sorbonne, was entitled “Darwinism in debate in French society (1859-1900): the role of public debate in the legitimization of a scientific theory”.
Once again, Donald Trump has defied the polls. While they predicted a neck and neck with Kamala Harris, he obtained a clear victory. In addition to controlling the presidency, the Republicans won the Senate. Despite his incitement to invade the Capitol, repeated scandals and numerous legal setbacks, Trump did better than his own score during his victory in 2017. For the first time in 20 years, he allowed the Republican camp to won by popular vote.
It would be tempting to attribute this victory to the stupidity of Americans, consumed with films and other productions where vulgarity and violence are elevated to the rank of entertainment. Devoid of a historical culture, they would not see the fascist danger. Unless it is the individualism deeply rooted in American culture that would explain why voters saw in Trump a concrete solution to their individual problems, without worrying about the future of their country and all those Trump chose. to put aside, or even ostracize. From women threatened by the questioning of abortion, to immigrants regularly insulted, to Ukraine, which risks losing the military support of the United States, many are those who risk being weakened by its victory.
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Another factor could explain this: Trump won because he convinced a majority of Americans that politics could still change reality. It is paradoxically in a burst of confidence in politics that Americans elected someone who greatly weakened American democracy.
His victory should serve as a warning to us in Europe and in France about the change that political elites must make, otherwise populism will continue to prevail. Faced with Kamala Harris who was content to point out the dangers represented by a second term for Trump, the latter continued to address the Americans by speaking to them concretely about their problems and offering them a series of strong measures. Offering nothing and demonizing his opponent was clearly not enough to convince voters to vote for the Democrats.
Like Berlusconi in his time, he knew how to use entertainment to ridicule his adversaries and win the sympathy of his supporters.
Liv Grjebine
Whatever we think of Trump’s personality and opinions, we cannot deny that he was able to present a real project for America. A project with two dimensions. On the one hand, with his “Make America Great Again”, he gave a transcendent vision to Americans, particularly to the often disdained working and middle classes of the Midwest, which his running mate JD Vance described very well in his autobiography, Hillbilly Elégie. He describes with finesse his childhood in the Appalachians, in a neglected region marked by the crisis in the coal and metallurgy industries, surrounded by “little white people”, these “hillbillies” often singled out for their xenophobia and their lack of education. Trump has been able to restore pride to people who have felt despised by American elites for decades.
Unlike many other populists, Trump did not just sell the “dream.” He also proposed a series of strong measures, the most emblematic of which concern the economic field. He has thus repeatedly repeated his proposal to increase by 10 percentage points (pp)—and even by 20 pp at the end of the campaign—American customs protection on all products coming from all countries, and by 60 pp protection on imports from China. The objectives of such measures are multiple, but in particular to sanction China for its unfair practices, reindustrialize the country, and finance massive tax cuts. Without judging these measures, this project embodies America’s reconquest of its sovereignty. His vulgarity and outspokenness convinced many Americans of the authenticity of his project. He is judged capable of having the audacity to follow through with his political action, even if it means displeasing those who embody political immobility in their eyes: the democratic camp and its entire “clique of right-thinking people” ‘Hollywood to college campuses.
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Aided by his political instinct and unfailing dynamism, Trump has been able to turn populism into a particularly effective weapon. Like Berlusconi in his time, he knew how to use entertainment to ridicule his adversaries and win the sympathy of his supporters. He also directly touched millions of Americans, speaking to them about their fears and aspirations and making them his own. Thus, Trump, the billionaire heir of New York, has come to represent the average American, eating fast-food burgers, and addressing everyone in the same language with limited vocabulary and countless insults. .
Trump has admirably understood the mechanisms of populism. But he would not have won if he had only relied on the mastery of this compositional role. He also managed to embody political will. The contrast is striking with the situation in Europe where our leaders increasingly represent a form of helplessness, the inability to have a grip on reality. This is the case on the subject of migration as well as on industrial responses to the risk of European economic and technological downgrading. In Europe, action seems to have become the illusion of naive people. Understanding the election of Trump also means realizing that our powerlessness risks leading to the worst, opening the way to populists from all walks of life.
