2018-05-12

Anti-Trump European Leaders Will Soon Be Gone

The establishment is still clueless as to what is happening in the West. The focus on the symptom, Trump, looks extremely out of place from the outside. But it makes sense in the context of a collapsing political establishment facing an existential crisis. The focus on Trump deflects from having to deal with the painful reality of impending political doom. It also may help them stay in office a little longer, since facing reality would likely have them spewing hatred at their own people.

Much of the establishment in the West is as out of touch as the aristocrats in 1789. They are foreigners in their own countries, in some cases literally foreigners. They are a separate class from the common people and consider themselves outside of the nation. Americans, Germans, Italians and Hungarians consider themselves Americans, Germans, Italians and Hungarians, but in many countries in the West, the political establishment consider themselves globalists, citizens of the world, or Europeans first. Populism is unstoppable because once a nationalist stands up and says "I am Italian," the non-Italians cannot win. They do not represent the Italian people and even want to destroy that which the Italian people value most. The same situation exists in nearly every nation.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, but the globalists are a fraction of the ruling class against the vast majority of the people in a democracy. Predicting the end game is not rocket science.

The new "left-right" axis is "globalist-nationalist" and the nationalists are set to sweep Europe. Especially because, as I constantly point out, these are the good times. Voters are polling as if this is the bottom of a depression, but the stock market is at all time highs. When the next recession/bear markets hit, nationalist poll numbers will surge. Both the floor and ceiling of their poll numbers is rising. The longer it takes for the next downswing in mood to arrive, the higher the starting floor for the nationalists.

Der Spiegel: Time for Europe to Join the Resistance
The most shocking realization, however, is one that affects us directly: The West as we once knew it no longer exists. Our relationship to the United States cannot currently be called a friendship and can hardly be referred to as a partnership. President Trump has adopted a tone that ignores 70 years of trust. He wants punitive tariffs and demands obedience. It is no longer a question as to whether Germany and Europe will take part in foreign military interventions in Afghanistan or Iraq. It is now about whether trans-Atlantic cooperation on economic, foreign and security policy even exists anymore. The answer: No. It is impossible to overstate what Trump has dismantled in the last 16 months. Europe has lost its protective power. It has lost its guarantor of joint values. And it has lost the global political influence that it was only able to exert because the U.S. stood by its side. And what will happen in the remaining two-and-a-half years (or six-and-a-half years) of Trump's leadership? There is plenty of time left for further escalation.
The German establishments reaction to Trump is a deflection of their fears about the collapsing EU project. Declining social mood predicts a break-up of NATO and the perhaps even the alliance between Europe and the United States over the long-run, but well before that takes place, the EU will breakdown into component states. Or if independence movements pick up, the EU will have accomplished an "ultra-nationalist" agenda of breaking Europe into hundreds of nations.

Deutsche Welle: Viktor Orban: Era of 'liberal democracy' is over
"We have replaced a shipwrecked liberal democracy with a 21st-century Christian democracy, which guarantees people's freedom, security," Orban said during his acceptance speech before the lawmakers in Budapest.

...During his speech on Thursday, Orban admitted that "We need the EU and the EU needs us."

At the same time, he said the EU should give up "nightmares" of the United States of Europe.
If the EU survives, it will be because nationalists quickly flip enough governments such they take it over and make it their own. Otherwise, the EU will weaken as a political institution.

Meanwhile, the latest polling data shows nationalists have the wind at their backs in every European nation. The only two nations that don't list immigration and terrorism as their top concerns are Italy and Spain. Both are in an economic depression. In Italy unemployment is second, in Spain unemployment is first.

YouGov: YouGov data reveals what Europeans think are the most important issues facing the EU
Tensions between the U.S. and Europe will keep rising as social mood deteriorates, but the battles may change as Europe looks primed for a high-order political revolution.

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