In our hyper-globalized
hyper-connected world, whatever happens anywhere won’t stay there. Containment
is effectively dead even as the illusion of it lingers on in some minds.
*
No, Trump is not popular because
“he tells it as it is.” Indeed, he is often factually wrong on what “it” is.
Trump is popular among certain segments because he legitimates their hidden
prejudices by echoing them out loud and for all to hear. In this sense, his
popularity reflects the resurgence on the scene of an old malaise with which
America keeps struggling: the inability to be all inclusive all the time. There
always has to be a certain domestic “other,” it seems from whom “we” all need
protection.
