From insolence to contagion
The past year has served to further showcase Trump's insolence as his way of being in the world and has contributed significantly to the erosion of democracy. If his second term was a worrying sign, the exacerbation of his behavior and actions has a contagious effect, creating a suspicious political regression. Let's not fool ourselves. Democracy is in danger. And yet, this is nothing new. We often forget that 72% of the world's citizens live under authoritarian regimes.
Trump's exhibitionism can serve as a wake-up call, making us aware of this reality. And it should make us more demanding of the country we live in. Certainly, one must have very low self-esteem to feel the American president's need to constantly seek attention. Putting his name on everything he touches, from military offensives to warships, is absurd. But what is surprising is that the spectacle of a pathologically impoverished man unfolds without resistance: the Democratic Party shows no signs of life, and American institutions, with few exceptions, yield. Democratic culture is faltering.
The Democratic Party doesn't know, doesn't answer. Is it possible they think that in the United States there is no culture in which to develop a dignified response to Trump's pathological spectacle? The judiciary seems absent. And the legislature is clearly lagging behind. The only sign of dissent so far has been the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York, but it has always been said that this city is different from the United States, more cosmopolitan, that it does its own thing.
Trump does as he pleases, based on the principle that he is the law. And it is surprising to hear that it cannot be ruled out that he will extend his term with impunity. And what about the rule of law? In other words, it seems as if Trump's only weakness is his age, that his body is giving out. All of this, seeing how he constantly violates customs, political practices, and even the law, raises serious doubts about American democracy. Where is the liberal tradition? And the separation of powers? Is it possible that everything is being accommodated to the whims of a delusional character?
And even more, the added problem is contagion. Europe's capitulation to Trump has an icon in the now legendary humiliation of Von der Leyen at the hands of the president on a golf course. The drift can no longer be disguised: it is the extreme right, reverential to Trump, that sets the pace everywhere, leading toward a manifestly post-democratic agenda, with the liberal right capitulating and the left increasingly blurred. Where is social democracy today? He who asks is not a traitor. The root of everything that exists is a mutation of political power under the logic dictated by the economic powers of the current phase of capitalism. And this is what Trump tolerates and what allows him impunity. Let's face reality before we're completely trapped. This year, Europe has experienced a major setback, with the traditional right increasingly cornered by the radical right. In Spain, for example.