During the run-up tot the midterm elections, Donald Trump, in raucous stump speeches designed to energize his Republican base, made wildly inaccurate and baseless immigration claims, painting a doomsday scenario if Democrats were to take control of Congress. In rally after rally Trump exclaimed that: "Democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our laws, violate our sovereignty, overrun our borders and destroy our nation in so many ways. We can't let that happen." He continued to assert that a caravan of a few thousand migrants moving north to the U.S. border consisted of MS-13 gang members, violent criminal and "unknown middle-easterners." Clams for which he never provided concrete evidence. (Ashley Parker et al., "Trump and Republicans settle on fear," The Washington post, Oct. 22, 2018).
While many of us in this country may have looked at his approach as a peculiar style Trump cultivated and applied during the 2016 election, assuming that it would work again this time around, the concept of spreading fear among electorates has become commonplace in an increasing number of countries dominated by populist, nativist and nationalist politicians. Populism has grown rapidly, its roots run deep, and analysts believe that the social and economic trends that have caused it will last long after the current crop of populist leaders has faded from the scene. Causes include: economic insecurity, social insecurity and political in effectiveness. Economic insecurity stems from income in equality, stagnation in average real in comes, and a drastically challenging labor market. Social insecurity comes from a perceived threat of immigration, generating cultural dislocation an loss of identity. And the feeling is that traditional political parties have become ineffective in coping with the dislocation fueled by globalization and technology.
Populism - a political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite, targets lower income, less educated segments of the population, and plays on their fears of becoming economically irrelevant. Nativism, which seeks to protect the interest of native born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants, stresses the fear of losing cultural identity. Nationalism, in its extreme form of chauvinism, jingoism or xenophobia, develops as a direct result from exploiting these fears, and become dangerous when manipulated by crafty politicians.
Examples of the use of "fear" in political rhetoric to attract a compliant following have become ubiquitous. Viktor Orban in Hungary, often referred to as the "Trump of Europe," spent hundreds of millions of taxpayer money on ad campaigns conjuring up an atmosphere of hatred and fear of immigrants, promising to protect his nation against foreign enemies that, he said, are seeking to undermine its identity, integrity and sovereignty. In Italy, Mateo Salvini, who graduated from the position of Federal Secretary of the populist, neo-nationalist, Northern League, to, after recent elections, became Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, has declare a public safety emergency (even though Italy's crime rate has dropped for years), cracked down on immigration by facilitating deportation and severely restricting pathways to legal status, and loosened gun laws , making it easier for people to injure or kill intruders. In Germany, the anti-immigrant, Eurosceptic, AFD - Alternative for Germany - Party has become the third largest party in parliament. While impressive for a relatively new organization, in states that formerly belonged to Communist East Germany, the party clearly dominates, achieving this status by praying on a long-simmering sense of discrimination, injustice an anger among those who, dating back to unification, never felt integrated in the overall society. After the influx of more than one million, mostly Muslim, refugees, the party projected even greater economic decline and cultural marginalization.
In extreme cases, the politics of fear practiced by populist politicians can become cataclysmic. Case in point, Germany post World War One. While Germany was weighted down by debt and feelings of defeat, Adolph Hitler promised to restore the country to its former glory. He spoke from an ultranationalist platform and positioned himself as a voice of the people against he government elite which brokered the Versailles Treaty and left the country weak and in debt. "Germany is broken, it needs to get up, to find its identity, it needs leader, someone capable of restoring its character." (Tom Whipple, "From Hitler to Trump, Populist Leaders Profit form Fear," The Times, June 13, 2017.) We all know how that ended.
Globalization of the world economy, enhanced automation resulting from a destabilizing technological revolution which already eliminated many traditional occupations, and shifting demographic realities compounded by migration patterns fueled by conflict and despair elsewhere, threatening a cultural mix natives no longer identify with, re causing distress among a growing segment of the population here and elsewhere. This extreme discomfort is real, and established governments have difficulty coping with a dynamically changing environment. Populist practitioners exploiting and exacerbating resulting fears may corral these disenfranchised groups to help themselves get elected. However, thus far they haven't shown an ability to solve underlying causes either. At best, they have succeeded in polarizing the political landscape, frequently making it more volatile and dangerous.
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