I am very discouraged by the global rise in nationalism. But there is a spark of hope. Nationalism is often his own worst enemy.
Consider the current situation in North America. President Trump clearly does not like the liberal party of Canada (especially Justin Trudeau), and would prefer a conservative government that takes power north of the border. But Trump recently thwarted the Canadian public, usually on border control issues that seem of small importance.
[You might think that Trump’s comments on Canada becoming the 51st state and the threat of 25% tariffs are no big deal, but recall this scene in Mad Men.]
Just before Trump’s recent criticism of Canada, the conservative party had more than 20 points ahead of the polls, a lead that expanded over time. Only a week later has a lot of that leadership gone:
[As in most normal countries, red refers to the left of center party.]
A few comments:
- There is still a lot of time for the autumn elections, and I still expect that the conservatives will win.
- The Canadian conservative leader is not an authoritarian nationalist.
But the second point actually strengthens my argument. Especially the US as a whole and Trump is now so unpopular in Canada that a more Trump-like Canadian politician would have had an even greater fall in the polls. The American national anthem is now being booed with sporting events in Canada.
Trump recently split with the British nationalist right to the support of Trump for a politician who is too extremely considered, even for the leadership of the reform. If the US starts to impose the rates on our trading partners, this can further reduce Trump’s popularity in European law. Given sufficient time, nationalism always breeds the international conflict. Let’s hope the economic conflict remains.
Ps. Just outside the subject, in a recent message I suggested that intolerance on the right became more in fashion, an unfortunate side effect of a very welcome pushback against cancellation of Cancel Culture. Do I have recent evidence for that claim? When Marko Elez recently stopped his Dogebaan after being shown as behind a number of offensive tweets, many people concentrated on the “racism” aspect. I was much more interested in the fact that he thought His own views were now “cool”:
In his online comments under a pseudonym, Elez argued in the past year for “Eugenic Immigration Policy” and the Civil Rights Act, according to a Wall Street Journal Report. “Normalize the Indian hatred,” said a message. “Only for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” said another. “You couldn’t pay me to get married outside of my ethnicity.”
Elez is correct – racism is becoming cool, at least on Twitter.
Vice President Vance (Who is the woman Indian descent) had this to say:
I clearly disagree with some of Elez’s messages, but I don’t think stupid social media activity should ruin the life of a child.
I actually agree with Vance that social media activities should not ruin the lives of an immature child. I assume that where I disagree with Vance is that I wonder a little if it makes sense to place immature “children” in important positions in the federal government. Maybe wait for them to grow up?