The establishment feels betrayed by the people

With Donald Trump’s re-election, the US political and cultural establishment has suffered an unexpectedly heavy defeat. When news landed on Tuesday night that voters in the battleground state of Georgia favoured the Republican candidate by 54 per cent to 43 per cent, suggesting Trump was on his way to the White House, you could see the shock on CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s face. Clearly, he found it difficult to process what he perceived as unwelcome news.

Tapper’s colleague, CNN commentator Van Jones, literally choked as he referred to Trump’s victory as a ‘nightmare’. He grew emotional as he commented on the fear and hurt that Kamala Harris’s supporters might now be feeling after she lost out on the presidency. Meanwhile, MSNBC news anchor Joy Reid erupted live on air in response to Trump’s victory in Florida, attacking the state’s supposed shift towards ‘extremist right-wing fascism’.

The hysteria on display by sections of the legacy media is shared by the rest of the establishment. Judging by the elites’ reaction to the election of Trump in 2016, this rage will soon turn into an anti-populist frenzy. Back in 2016, an essay in the Atlantic stated that: ‘Our most pressing political problem today is that the country abandoned the establishment, not the other way around.’ A Foreign Policy columnist reacting to Brexit earlier that year said it was ‘time for the elites to rise up against the ignorant masses’. Given the scale of Trump’s comeback this time around, the elite’s sense that they’ve been betrayed by the people will likely only intensify.

This condescending hatred for the disobedient masses runs in parallel with a powerful mood of incomprehension. Those in charge of the legacy media, along with their colleagues in the public and private sector, have no idea why millions of people voted for Trump, as they only talk to people like themselves. To say they are out of touch with the real world would be an understatement. Many in this class really believe they are entitled to the levers of power. The media, in particular, have deluded themselves into believing that they have won the loyalty of virtually everyone, other than incorrigible racists, homophobes and far-right nativists. Now that the majority of American voters have decided to reject their worldview, and stand on the ‘wrong’ side of history, these elites are looking for scapegoats.

Where ‘white’ Americans have long been blamed for the rise of populism, this time the elites feel especially betrayed by those millions of ethnic-minority voters who opted for Trump. In doing so, they showed they were unwilling to worship at the altar of identity politics. America’s oligarchy expects the automatic loyalty of Hispanic and black voters, in particular. The refusal of significant sections of these groups to vote for the Democratic Party has called into question the tactic of using minorities as election fodder.

The huge support that Trump gained from Hispanic voters is arguably the most serious setback ever suffered by woke identity politics. The importance of this cannot be exaggerated. In recent decades, identity politics has become an integral component of elite ideology and a means for the managerial class to retain control over society. Until this election, the politics of identity has rarely been so seriously challenged.

Trump’s triumph has also provoked a hysterical reaction among the elites on the other side of the Atlantic. This shouldn’t really surprise us. After all, even the relatively modest success of the Reform Party during the UK General Election earlier this year was enough to create a mood of unease among the commentariat. ‘Sooner or later’, argued Guardian commentator John Harris back in July, ‘the snake-oil charm of Nigel Farage and Reform will have to be tackled head-on – especially if Trump returns to the White House’. Now that Trump is indeed about to return to the White House, this will inevitably give more confidence to populists in Britain and Europe. Trump, and the grassroots movement that fuels him, have shown what can be achieved against the odds.

A new era of populism has arrived. This will have major implications for the future of the entire Western world. Europe, take note.

Frank Furedi is the executive director of the think-tank, MCC-Brussels.