Quote of the day 20th November 2024

Nasrine Maik on responding to the narratives presented by Donald Trump and people like him

 

"If you are the Democrats and all you have to counter this powerful vision is a lot of nice values and dancing “joy” but no material proposal to radically change people’s lives, you haven’t even brought a knife to a gunfight – you’ve brought Oprah Winfrey."

 

She also wrote: 


"It is easier to believe that it is racism that elected Trump, or backwardness that reversed the Egyptian revolution, or ethnic supremacism that elevated Modi. But the truth is that, all over the world, the old order is gone and the new one is bewildering. People feel trapped and want a sense of release, a promise of a dramatically different future, or just a future."

 

"And they want to feel as if they are part of something bigger and stronger as they get lonelier and weaker and their worlds fracture and atomise by the day."

 


For the avoidance of doubt, I don't necessarily share either Donald Trump's or Nasrine Maik's views on the world. But she's dead right that you won't defeat your opponents in an election, be they right, centre of left, by jumping to simplistic ideas that they and everyone who votes for them is a racist, backward, or a fool.


You can read the full article at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/18/donald-trump-victory-liberals-modern-crisis-neoliberal

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