The Retreat of Western Liberalism

by Edward Luce

There is no rule that says populists fizzle out. As president, the means at Trump’s disposal to divert public anger and target his enemies are chilling. At best, history is ambivalent on this question. Trump is no deus ex machina. The conditions that enabled his rise are only likely to deteriorate during his time in office. We should also fear whatever may follow Trump. Imagine how things would look with a competent and sophisticated white nationalist in the White House. In the years ahead, we must be especially alert to Benjamin Franklin’s wise words: ‘The price of liberty is eternal vigilance’. Liberal elites, in particular, will have to resist the temptation to carry on with their comfortable lives and imagine they are doing their part by signing up to the occasional Facebook protest. For Trump, if you are not against him you might as well be with him. Trump’s opponents must also learn to separate the man from the people who vote for him. It would be lethal malpractice to continue writing off half of society as hidebound. Someone once said that the difference between erotica and pornography is the lighting. There is an equally hazy line between illiberal democracy and autocracy. We will know the difference when we see it. NOTES PREFACE 1 Francis Fukuyama, ‘The End of History?’, National Interest (summer 1989). 2 Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, 1941–1991 (Abacus, London, 1995). 3 Dan Jones, Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty (Viking, New York, 2015), p. 4. 4 I...