Far-right leaders are winning across the globe. Blaming ‘the economy’ or ‘the left-behinds’ won’t cut it | Richard Seymour
www.theguardian.com
The economy matters, but the likes of Trump succeed by offering voters revenge for problems both real and imagined, says author and Salvage founder Richard Seymour

Summary

Far-right leaders are gaining globally, with Trump’s victory in the US presidential election echoing trends in Hungary, India, and other countries.

Donald Trump’s 2024 victory marks a historic first where he won the U.S. popular vote, supported by diverse groups including young, Black, and Latino voters, as well as the working class—a reversal from previous elections.

This win aligns with global far-right gains, reflecting voter frustration with economic hardships and liberal policies.

Analysts argue that the far right’s appeal lies in its “politics of existential revenge,” which vilifies minority groups and offers imaginary disasters as scapegoats.

  • @Lasherz12
    5•3 days ago

    Completely agree with these two traits being the primary obstacles. I think the Democratic party’s ability to acknowledge this is the key to future election wins. You conclusion though that the solution is for Americans to “overcome their base human instincts en masse” is very incomplete.

    A few suggestions if you want to appeal to someone who is lazy about gathering and retaining information and getting off their butt to vote:

    1. State directly why they should care and what you’re going to do about it in the first 2 sentences, then tell them what to believe about it instead of relying on them to have a thought.
    2. Create a campaign against the media they consume to instill doubt that they’re getting the full picture (they obviously aren’t).
    3. Present facts mostly to disprove the points they’ve been fed rather than defending your positions. This is both to prevent competing influence where you will obviously lose as well as to be offensively confident rather than defensively meak.
    4. To appeal to the dumbest people amongst us who can barely figure out how to breath, also vaguely gesture that you will fix everything wrong and take public concerns to your office as a personal checklist.
    5. Surround yourself with actual entertainment, not just politicians. The Democrats have the support of every artist who matters, have a mega-mash concert… We’re the cool party, don’t pretend we’re not. They should want to watch it like the Dre Day Superbowl even if they don’t agree with the candidate.

    A few suggestions if you want to appeal to someone who is selfish and wouldn’t lift a finger in a holocaust if the target wasn’t them:

    1. TELL THEM WHAT THE GOVERNMENT DOES FOR THEM. I’m so sick of the messaging not containing things like ROI for the government programs. Talk about how for every house we remove lead paint and pipes from it will mean less taxes for you because more people will have the chance to pay them and not be dependent on the system. Talk about how many leading technologies originated with public funds that were only possible through government spending including technology they’re watching this through, or the reason they’re not dead in that car accident, or why they haven’t choked and died on the air.
    2. Tell them what the opposition wants to take from you and give to the rich, whether technically true or not, make them defensive and want to distance themselves from their donors. They’re coming to steal your hard earned tax dollars and give it to SpaceX to use technology we all paid for. Government leads and these corporate wellfare ghouls follow, and my opponent represents the ghouls. Say the exact amount of money Tesla and SpaceX gets from the government, point out that’s why Elon is groveling behind him collecting government crumbs like the most pathetic pidgeon ever.

    This all fits firmly into the messaging solutions of leftist populism by the way.