Democratic low
It IS tempting (and easy) to laugh and sneer at the popularity of Donald Trump and to wonder why it is that so many Americans are buying into his tub-thumping attacks on the elite, the establishment, the political class, and so on -- but the truth is that this stuff works.
Just ask Beppe Grillo, Marine Le Pen, Alexis Tsipras, Yanis Varoufakis, Nigel Farage, Alex Salmond, Nicola Sturgeon, Russell Brand, and Jeremy Corbyn. All have been adept at churning out simplistic “silver bullet” slogans and soundbites, carefully calibrated to appeal to ill-informed audiences who can get them what they want, and all have been given a depressingly easy ride by much of the mainstream media. It seems doubtful that any objective analyst will ever look back on this time as having been a high point in the history of Western democracy.
Keith Gilmour
Netherton Gate
Glasgow