Trump: the unsightly boil that hides the gangrene?

[ionelv]

Is all the hubbub around Trump potentially winning the 2024 election, missing the larger story and long trend in American history? Here are a few interplaying undercurrents that have brought Trump to the forefront (and will continue to bring other populists like him on both sides of the political spectrum, e.g. Bernie Sanders):

The continuous offshoring of the US economy (since Nixon): maquiladoras, and others through free-trade agreements (e.g. WTO, NAFTA/USMCA) that is most visible in imbalances of trade or Fed Debt ballooning and foreign ownership

The relentless destruction of unions and the pauperization of the lower middle class (e.g. compare 1950s vs 2020s blue-collar workers)

The anti-intellectual undercurrent that was weaponized into divide-and-conquer strategies that resulted in the rural underemployed mostly white protestant conservative lower middle class pitted against the non-rural liberal non-protestant upper middle class and non-white minorities on emotional "value" issues (e.g. abortion, second amendment, religion, LGBTQ+, affirmative action, misogyny, libertarian principles, virulent anti-leftism).

The undue influence of deep-pocketed lobbyists (e.g. military industry, lawyers, financiers, banks) and moneyed opinion shapers (foreign and domestic) over legislation, public spending and mainstream narrowband discourse

The systemic inequalities (e.g. voting mechanisms, SCOTUS, Senate, gerrymandering) that favor certain classes over others (e.g. rich, white)

The chronic underfunding and sapping of the social net (e.g. healthcare, pensions) and public infrastructure (e.g. education, public media, public transport)