The Hindu | Trump’s victory gives greater momentum to the return of nationalism as a respected political issue in the West: Ram Madhav

What does the victory for Donald Trump in the U.S. mean for the world order and the ‘liberal project’?

Donald Trump secured a majority in the popular vote, and also a majority in both wings of the U.S. Congress, the Senate and the House, leading most analysts to interpret this as a more forceful return of the Trump 1.0 era of unpredictability and transactionalism, that it would be worse than his previous term. However, going by the way he took no time in announcing key appointments, and some of the policy announcements that he was making after the election, it is clear that Trump 2.0 is going to be different.

He is expected to double down on issues leading to his pet theme of MAGA — ‘Making America Great Again’ — giving up in the process on issues that stood for the euphemism ‘American exceptionalism’, like its democracy export projects or human rights campaigns.

Interestingly, Trump’s return with a vengeance has become a nightmare for not only the radical liberals, but also to China and Europe, who expect him to be harsh with them on several issues, including trade and wars. All in all, Trump’s presidency is likely to shake up the world at a time when the old liberal international order has reached the end of its tether with a new one is yet to fully take shape. Trump will certainly be seen as a strong supporter by the rising Conservative and nationalist leaders in Europe and elsewhere, while his liberal counterparts in Europe are likely to face some heat.

Trump has broken new ground among Latinos and Black voters. How did that happen, in your view?

If one dissects the mandate, it becomes clear that Trump was able to break new ground as a rejection of the liberal politics that went too far in championing causes like illegal migrations and ‘wokeness’. It must be borne in mind that not all Latinos in America, like not all Indians for that matter, are illegals (illegal immigrants). They didn’t like the Democrat rhetoric of supporting illegal migrations from the Latin American countries, which were increasingly erasing the line between legal and illegal migrants, thus subjecting all Latinos to the same treatment from White Americans. On the contrary, Trump’s distinction between legal and illegal migrations was welcomed by them.

Second and more important reason appears to be the total rejection of ‘wokeism’ and associated politics championed by the Democratic Party. ‘Wokeism’ reached alarming proportions in America where all decent citizens, including the minorities, felt threatened over the future of their children and families. One of the first Bills that Joe Biden had signed as President in 2021 was to allow transgender men to use women’s toilets and participate as women in all events, including sports. Cancel culture, denying even First Amendment freedoms to people who don’t endorse ‘wokeism’, too caused serious angst among all the citizens, including the minorities.

Finally, American society as a whole, including Latinos and others, is yet to overcome its sexist or gender prejudices. When pitted against women candidates — Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Kamala Harris in 2024 — Trump romped home easily as against a male candidate like Biden in 2020. It may be a contested argument, but can’t be dismissed fully.

Has the idea of representative politics changed with the defeat of Kamala Harris, following from this support for Trump among otherwise Democrat supporters? 

Kamala Harris’s defeat can be attributed to several reasons, one of them being the gender bias at the subterranean level in the American society. But she also lost a section of the Democrat vote because she didn’t pass through the litmus test of the Primaries, was seen as an Obama (former U.S. President Barack Obama) proxy imposed from the above by many even within the Democratic Party, and there was the problem of Biden’s legacy that Kamala Harris couldn’t shrug off in the brief window of three months of campaign.

Finally, although she managed to lead in the first and only debate with Trump, her campaign remained lacklustre on important issues bothering the American electorate like the economy, inflation, immigration and ‘wokeism’.

However, it shouldn’t be forgotten that despite all these odds, Kamala still secured 48.4% popular vote, as against Trump’s 49.9%, just behind by less than three million votes. That shows that the Democrats still enjoy wide support in the country.

How has the Trump victory affected the idea of citizenship?

Trump’s victory gives greater momentum to the return of nationalism as a respected political issue in the West. Until the rise of racist dictators like Hitler and Mussolini in Europe, nationalism was a well-respected idea associated with great European generals like Otto von Bismarck, who guided the unification of Germany towards the end of the 19th century. After the Second World War, in their zealousness to build a liberal international order, the liberal ideologues have demonised nationalism as a parochial idea and condemned nationalists to be Nazi-ists. However, nationalist politics has seen a resurgence in Europe in recent decades and Trump’s victory in America will further sanctify and fortify those ideals. Citizenship based not just on constitutional provisions, but also on acceptance and assimilation in the national mainstream, will become a dominant idea in the West in coming years. It will subject the migration and multiculturalism debates to a new test. National boundaries will be further strengthened not only in America but in many other countries.