Smink

George Packer's book "The Unwinding" describes the gradual economic and moral decline of the United States. It is the most astute book about the country's condition today. Packer says that Trump now exhibits several of the characteristics of a fascist.

It's no accident that Trump expresses great admiration for Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who seems to impress him far more than politicians seeking to champion the values of democracy with their painstaking and often vain search for compromises.

Packer says many Europeans are currently looking at Trump's success and thinking: "Those Americans are crazy!" But Packer sees him as being evocative of European right-wing populists, à la Marine Le Pen in France and Viktor Orbán in Hungary. While politicians like Le Pen and Orbán inveigh against "Brussels," Trump rails against "Washington" as the symbol of a degenerate political system "that doesn't get things done anymore." 

Just like his European counterparts, Trump is calling for isolation in the form of protective tariffs, entry bans and border walls. He inflames tensions against ethnic minorities and offers anxious citizens the authoritarian vision of a strongman who will solve all problems on his own -- while ignoring democratic conventions. Trump is presumably only the shrillest and most prominent embodiment of a trend that is becoming pervasive throughout the Western world.

Packer sees the 2008 financial crisis, which caused parts of the US economy to unravel and deprived millions of Americans of their economic foundation, as the main reason many Americans are receptive to a man like Trump. The economy has been growing again since then, but in absurdly unfair ways, says Packer, as inequality becomes more and more glaring. According to Packer, many Americans feel they have been left alone with their concerns, and they feel disconnected and betrayed.

Many Americans, especially whites and those with relatively little education, are now more receptive than ever to audacious promises and simplistic solutions. But they are also receptive to a form of politics that blames immigrants and minorities for their own fate, and for the race-baiting that has been part of every authoritarian movement to date. Trump offers all of these things, and he offers them more skillfully, professionally and self-confidently than all other candidates.