POLITICS AND PROPAGANDA
Creation of an alternative reality may not be enough to placate the electorate
Trump, European anti-elitists and the EFF distort facts to win support but they become difficult to sustain, writes Bryan Rostron
How do you deal with a president who appears to think primarily of himself, tells outrageous fibs, is intent on enriching himself and family to the detriment of civic duties, operates by crassly insulting and smearing opponents, and is a confirmed sexual predator? We are beginning to extract ourselves from that prolonged delirium, just as the US is about to enter the labyrinth. In both cases, there is no predictable outcome. We are living through a volatile interregnum. The result of the US election may well shake up the western economic consensus. Or the developed world could slip back into "business as usual" — merely delaying dealing with the root causes of seething discontent in many established democracies. This anger, so palpable during the US election and in the upsurge of populist movements all over Europe, is not something any mainstream party of either left or centre right is tackling. It should be remembered that Donald Trump not only beat the Democrats (at least in the e...
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