Trump, a favorable explanation. “Anything seems better than the existing order, which seems obsessed with protecting the interests of the already privileged”

Even if the Liberals are horrified by the chaos generated by Donald Trump, some of the appreciation that the US President receives is based on the fact that it destroys things that people think no longer works, writes philosopher Bernard Pruusak in the opinion publication. Commonweal. Prussak takes into account the arguments presented in the book “Abundance”, written by journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.

• All over the world, including in Romania, there is a big difference between the solutions won by “those whose situation looks good” and people who are dissatisfied, justified.
• But both categories are united, even without wanting, of a common problem: they live on a land that no longer supports the current rhythm and style of development.

Donald Trump destroys expectations, destroys norms, even laws, as well as promises and alliances. He tries to destroy much of the United States Federal government. It could also abolish the social safety net, through which the state protects vulnerable people from poverty and exclusion. It is the elephant in a porcelain store, which does not think about what it destroys and which does not have a plan to repair the damage.

“If your current situation looks good, none of this will seem attractive,” writes Commonweal. If things do not go properly-if you do not do without borrowing, if you do not allow a decent home in a safe neighborhood, if people in your community have economic problems or if health insurance is so expensive that it seems useless-then a president who destroys things may seem a reasonable option.

In such situations, the first thought of a man who does not have a good financial or social situation is that a president who destroys “is better than the existing order, which seems obsessed with protecting the interests of the already privileged.”

• Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson are two American journalists. Klein worked at The Washington Post, founded the Vox News site, and is currently an editorialist at The New York Times, where he also has a podcast. Thompson is the editor at The Atlantic and has his own podcast.

Donald Trump is not related to the old principles, such as the “solution of the two states”, which refers to the establishment of two territorially different states for Israel and Palestine. He is not related to the commitment to be the “leader of the free world” in the Ukraine war. “So, in November 2024, you either voted for Trump or you decided to stay aside.”

“The populists feed on the inefficiency of the government”

In their book, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson agree with those unhappy that things are not working. “Left pathologies” and the failures of “liberal governance” are real and are a central reason for the emergence of trumpism (no a political ideology and a socio-economic system introduced by Donald Trump).

As two political scientists say in “Abundance”: “the populists do not feed only from socio-economic dissatisfaction. They feed on the inefficiency of the government.”

According to journalists “the debates on the size of the government have hidden the decrease of its ability. The abundance of consumer goods has distracted us from the lack of housing, energy, infrastructure and scientific progress.”

Neither the Liberals nor the Conservatives have focused, in the last decades, on the “capacity of the state”: the Government's ability to reach their goals. On the contrary, “the Liberals speak as if they believe in the government, but then adopt policies that paralyze it.”

The authors of the book offer several examples, such as the environmental regulations of the 20th century that now prevent the development of energy projects. Progressive policies have been focused on demand and offered people subsidies for health insurance.

But this approach does not solve the general problem. In the US, health insurance costs, on average, $ 115 monthly, for some employees. For people who have individual insurance plans, the amount reaches over $ 400 a month, according to Investopedia.

The only way to combat climatic changes: “Solutions for green, abundant and cheap energy”

The biggest concern of journalists is the climatic crisis. “The only way in which humanity can combat climate change and poverty is to invent solutions for green, abundant and cheap energy and to invest enough in their implementation.”

Against this vision, both the drilling policies, regarding the extraction of oil and natural gas, supported by the Republicans, but also the Degrowth movement, supported by the left, which we think we must reduce to save the planet are opposed.