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Trumpism Explained

It is fascinating to watch commentators trying to explain the continuing solid support for Trump among a significant portion of the electorate. They cite an endless list of Trumpian sins, enumerating just about every possible policy and personal evil. Their outrage, but more significantly, their bafflement knows no bounds. They know they hate Trump with a passion but are at a loss to understand or explain how anyone could actually vote for Trump. They are truly at wit’s end.

I have a single explanation for Trump’s unshakable support: he espouses nationhood. It’s that simple. Perhaps the greatest theme of our lifetimes is the issue of the desirability of having nations. There is underway a massive effort to obliterate the idea of nationhood. This effort has been building for a long time. It is spearheaded by a disparate amalgamation of proponents: Marxists, socialists, capitalist monopolists, faceless technocrats, very rich people, government idealists, dreamers and assorted globalists.

Whether Trump really believes in nationhood is unknown. The all important point is that he sounds like he does. Significant numbers of people support the concept of nations, not out of nostalgia, but because inherently and logically they believe that smaller units of human organization work best. This issue underlies much of Brave New World, Animal Farm and endless other discources. Regardless of the arguments on either side of this issue, it captures the allure of Trumpism more than any other explanation.