FLASH
Shkruar nga Rod Liddle
The trend toward disapproval of leaders in the West has accelerated as never before. The dissatisfaction is not just with the old order, but with the very concept of order and the idea that anyone would dare to rule us. But mostly, it is a mass stupidity of people who have never experienced real hardship or tyranny...
My favorite recent poll was the one that showed that Donald Trump is disliked by more than 90 percent of Danes. That's a glorious achievement, one he should be proud of and perhaps brag about from time to time.
This was Trump's lowest rating in the world, and I think it was partly caused by his determination to wrest Greenland from the hands of these hermetic, complacent Scandinavians. In the White House chief's view, they have no idea what to do with it and have been mismanaging its affairs for decades.
But Trump's popularity doesn't climb above 50 percent anywhere in Western Europe. The British (along with the Italians) are less hostile to him, perhaps because we share the same ambiguous attitude towards our continent: as a place you remember fondly but distance yourself from at the same time.
His approval rating has also fallen within the US. The midterm elections are approaching. In 2017, Trump broke the record for the lowest approval rating for a president after one year in office, and he may be poised to repeat that record.
Yet Joe Biden didn't fare much better after his first year. They may be a unique and terrifying duo; but in this case, the point is the speed with which the public turned against them. One moment, people were happy to vote for them; the next, they were furious.
So the question arises: does this have to do with the qualities of Trump or Biden, or more with the public itself? Currently, Trump is losing that public. A populist who is no longer popular becomes a rather miserable character. It is precisely the young who are abandoning him at the fastest rate.
Remember, it was their support that propelled him to victory over Kamala Harris. A surprising 43 percent of 18-29 year-olds voted for Trump in the 2024 election, but recently, their approval rating for the president has fallen to just 10 percent, according to CNN.
Why are young people so disillusioned? Some observers suggest that the aggression against Venezuela (and by extension Cuba) has made them think twice. Or perhaps the dark “Epstein” affair. Or perhaps the emergence of Zohran Mamdani as a different kind of populist in New York?
I think the latter could have a big impact, although it's not the full explanation. Also, Trump seems to have lost, at least temporarily, a good portion of his MAGA base, which is angered by concessions like granting 600,000 visas to Chinese students and the ever-increasing cost of living.
And yet, none of this fully explains the level of disappointment in the polls. I think the answer lies not with politicians, but with a major shift in the electorate itself.
Today we are used to hearing that voters are “unstable,” but this is more than just instability. The same process is happening in Britain and Europe. In September, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer recorded the lowest approval rating in the country’s history.
I don’t like his Labour government either, which is damaging the economy through incompetence. But from whom did Starmer get this negative record? From his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, a moderate and polite Conservative. Sunak, on the other hand, took the “medal” from Liz Truss, who lasted only 49 days in office. She too stole the “crown” from her predecessor, Boris Johnson.
It has been said that Keir Starmer's victory in 2024 was driven by widespread hatred of the Conservatives. I wouldn't dispute this analysis, but it is remarkable how quickly the electorate began to hate Starmer, even after having just voted for him.
It was almost immediate. The trend toward disapproval of leaders in the West has accelerated as never before. In France, Emmanuel Macron is hated by almost everyone. In October, a poll showed that he is the least popular president in 50 years.
He took over the title from his predecessor, François Hollande. In Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is disliked by 75 percent of Germans, even though he has only been in office since May of this year. Before him, Olaf Scholz was also extremely unpopular.
The usual way to explain this is that the liberal consensus of the last 70 years has failed: people are tired of the establishment, so populists are gaining strength everywhere, from Europe to the US. The truth is that we in the West have become ungovernable.
Spoiled by decades of peace and rising living standards, voters seem to believe that prosperity is their natural right and that politicians are simply ruining it. The dissatisfaction is not just with the old order, but with the very concept of order and the idea that anyone would dare to govern us.
When we don't get everything we want, we have a childlike outburst of anger. Part of this comes from the 24-hour news and social media, where every wrong is exaggerated. But mostly, it's the mass stupidity of people who have never experienced real hardship or tyranny./ Adapted from "Pamphlet", from "The Spectator"
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