TRUMP - THE DEMAGOGUE

Like many, I am striving to understand as a non-American, how Trump managed to regain the Presidency and why a significant number of Americans continue to believe he is doing a good job. Nick Bryant's forensic examination of American political history in 'The Forever War' offers an explanation.

Bryant's career spans almost thirty years. He is regarded as one of the BBC's finest foreign correspondents with postings in Washington, South Asia, Australia and most recently, New York, where he covered the Trump years.

Bryant unpacks a long list of American political leaders who seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.

Bryant writes, "From 2015 onwards Trump tapped into precisely the same anxieties as his demagogic forbearers. A deep-rooted suspicion of central government; a collective sense of victimhood; an ugly racism and hostility towards the other; and anti-intellectualism; an anti-elitism: a populist anti-capitalism; a nostalgic nationalism; and the drawing of battlelines which portrayed him as a David up against a Goliath." (p.108)

"Throughout history, Americans have always been susceptible to demagogues promising to make their country great again, whatever their qualifications for the job." (p.109)