Far-right leaders are winning across the globe. Blaming ‘the economy’ or ‘the left-behinds’ won’t cut it | Richard Seymour
www.theguardian.com
The economy matters, but the likes of Trump succeed by offering voters revenge for problems both real and imagined, says author and Salvage founder Richard Seymour

Summary

Far-right leaders are gaining globally, with Trump’s victory in the US presidential election echoing trends in Hungary, India, and other countries.

Donald Trump’s 2024 victory marks a historic first where he won the U.S. popular vote, supported by diverse groups including young, Black, and Latino voters, as well as the working class—a reversal from previous elections.

This win aligns with global far-right gains, reflecting voter frustration with economic hardships and liberal policies.

Analysts argue that the far right’s appeal lies in its “politics of existential revenge,” which vilifies minority groups and offers imaginary disasters as scapegoats.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    The underlying assumption here is that these voters aren’t low information voters. The economy was what they themselves say they voted while thinking about.

    I simply refuse to believe this because it just doesn’t make sense. If these voters aren’t low-information voters, they’d know that Trump plans to increase their expenses by about $400 per month. They’d know that Musk has already said he plans on making things exponentially worse. They’d know that Trump literally has no economic plan besides “get rid of the brown people.” And they either voted for him or decided to stay home anyway? That doesn’t make the first bit of sense.

    Harris got far fewer votes and Trump received nearly the same as last time.

    This is my point. The policies weren’t the problem. Dem policies such as abortion did just fine. The “old white guy” thing mysteriously disappeared once Biden dropped out of the race, and now people are saying we could have avoided this by putting up an even older white guy. They certainly didn’t like Trump’s policies because Trump doesn’t have any and Project 2025 is wildly unpopular. All 50 states went significantly redder.

    It certainly wasn’t because of policy. Dems did just fine there.

    It wasn’t because of downticket. Senate and House races went largely as predicted.

    It wasn’t because Biden was old. Trump is virtually the same age and Bernie is even older.

    It’s not the economy. Trump plans to make things worse.

    The excuses that people are giving just do not make the least bit of sense when up against even a minimum amount of scrutiny. We have people saying “women are property”, “your body, my choice”, sending texts to Latinos telling them to pack their bags, and telling black people to report for slave duty. We don’t have people out there celebrating “the economy is gonna be great again!”.

    “the economy” is a convenient excuse for people who just don’t want to admit they refuse to vote for a black woman. If the “economy” is a concern, you don’t vote for the guy who’s planning on increasing your expenses by thousands of dollars per year.