Red Wave Rising US President-elect Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Salem Civic Centre, Virginia
LIGHTNING never strikes twice. Donald Trump has certainly struck the White House a second time, underlining that his first victory against Hillary Clinton in 2016 was not just a one-off. After being defeated by Joe Biden in his 2020 bid for re-election, Trump has made a spectacular comeback by becoming the first Republican president in two decades to win the popular vote. The fact that a misogynistic, foul-mouthed and convicted felon has won the popular vote and the presidency reveals the rot at the core of, not just American democracy, but the theory and practice of liberal democracy across the world. Apologists of a thinly attenuated democracy will proclaim, with declarative finality, that the people have spoken. They may well have, but in tones pushed and prodded by the algorithms of Trump’s exuberant backer, Elon Musk, and in a way that they may not speak again for some time to come. Trump’s victory reveals that democracy is incorrigible. Once it has gone down the path of demagogic doom, as it has in the US and many other parts of the world, there is no possibility within it of effecting a course correction of redemption.
This story is from the November 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 21, 2024 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
No Singular Self
Sudarshan Shetty's work questions the singularity of identity
Mass Killing
Genocide or not, stop the massacre of Palestinians
Passing on the Gavel
The higher judiciary must locate its own charter in the Constitution. There should not be any ambiguity
India Reads Korea
Books, comics and webtoons by Korean writers and creators-Indian enthusiasts welcome them all
The K-kraze
A chronology of how the Korean cultural wave(s) managed to sweep global audiences
Tapping Everyday Intimacies
Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo departs from his outsized national cinema with low-budget, chatty dramedies
Tooth and Nail
The influence of Korean cinema on Bollywood aesthetics isn't matched by engagement with its deeper themes as scene after scene of seemingly vacuous violence testify, shorn of their original context
Beyond Enemy Lines
The recent crop of films on North-South Korea relations reflects a deep-seated yearning for the reunification of Korea
Ramyeon Mogole?
How the Korean aesthetic took over the Indian market and mindspace
Old Ties, Modern Dreams
K-culture in Tamil Nadu is a very serious pursuit for many
