In our special edition devoted to the American presidential election, the consequences of Donald Trump’s victory on the image of the United States were analyzed.
Eight years ago, Donald Trump’s arrival in power surprised everyone. Today, his return is described as historic, including by the main person concerned.
Following the Republican’s victory, is the image of the United States changing? Is withdrawal into oneself the new deal? Nicolas Baygert, doctor in information sciences at ULB, delivered his analysis.
“We have already talked about isolationism, which is rather cyclical. Here, in fact, it is a new version of Trumpism, which has also been reshaped in some way by the arrival of new supports. There is indeed Certainly today the narrative that is trying to be imposed by the Republican camp is this idea of the phoenix, of the greatest comeback of all time, as Trump himself says. And we cannot deny it. it is indeed a big surprise. We still remember that a few days after the attack on the Capitol, on January 6, 2021, Trump and Trumpism were in a way clinical death He had been completely banned from social networks. This idea of canceling, this idea of finally eliminating this personality, this public figure from the debate, had been implemented. However, today, the situation has turned around. What we must understand is that Donald. Trump, he is on a permanent campaign. He has been on a permanent campaign since 2016. He has never stopped exploiting all the slip-ups. We saw it again with his time at McDonald’s, his time in a garbage truck. He’s a judoka. So, he takes the attack and turns it against his opponent, in this case Kamala Harris and the Democratic camp. So, I think that his supporters understand that today. And all these excesses, because here we are shocked by Donald Trump’s style, it no longer shocks anyone in the United States.”
Despite criminal cases, his past, and blunders, Donald Trump managed to return to power in the United States. Is this the new model American? Nicolas Baygert responds:
“We may have forgotten him, but remember a certain Silvio Berlusconi. There too, he is a businessman who enters politics. Who, in a way, revolutionizes and who takes a place in the Italian political landscape with captains of industry, with the media, with him… Today, it’s more social networks, with Elon Musk and with endless business And this immunity. , ultimately, which he preserved in politics with the same type of scandal, moreover.
What is interesting, indeed, is to see that we have talked a lot about joy. Kamala Harris’ campaign is this idea that she will excite the Democratic camp. I see it more as a form of Prozac, an antidepressant, at a given moment, when everyone was on the floor after the debate, in particular, of Biden against Trump. Today, when we see Donald Trump’s rallies, it’s a political show, it’s stand-up. There is a mixture of humor and political harangue. And then, we see Elon Musk, jumping for joy on stage. So, there too, a sort of idea of revolution, perhaps conservative or neoconservative, which excites the Trump camp, as was not the case in 2020.”
Is this the new profile of the American president in the years to come?
“I think Trump is not the end, but the start of something,” estimates economist Bruno Colmant. “In fact, Trump’s whole algorithm is to mentally place the United States, as in the 70s, in the middle of an economic crisis, when they are at full employment, and at the end of the Vietnam War, where all the soldiers returned completely mismatched, were excluded from civilian life He sees himself as Ronald Reagan number two. The Americans do not react to the excesses, because it strikes me when I discuss it with my American friends. , they are ashamed and stunned by what their president has become. They no longer have the individual strength to oppose it. In fact, they are hiding in shame. The whole world is watching them closely. United States, poverty, precariousness, look at inflation… While the United States, for years, wanted to give an extremely positive image of the country through soft power, through Top Gun and other films of this kind. So, today there is an opening to the reality that Americans see with great sadness.
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