Italy’s Five Star Movement was founded by a clown. Now they have been elected to govern all of Italy. Here are some of their views:
An alliance between Five Star and the League has long been considered the most destabilising outcome to the eurozone of the election because both parties have attacked EU fiscal rules, banking regulations, trade deals and sanctions against Russia.
Notice that there’s no real ideology there, other than always taking the “irresponsible” position, no matter what the issue. It would be like if America were to elect a buffoon who had no discernible ideology other than being irresponsible. Someone who opposed responsible conservative policies like slowing the growth in entitlements and a smaller deficit, but also opposed responsible progressive policies like the Paris Accord or the Iran deal. And also opposed responsible centrist polices, such as speaking out against Putin and enacting trade agreements like TPP. Someone who’s only ideology was to be irresponsible. Thank God we are not Italy.
Meanwhile, The Economist had an interesting piece on Germany:
A cultural divide is opening up between urban regions and more conservative suburban and rural areas. “Cities like Munich, Cologne and Berlin now have more in common with each other than with their own hinterlands,” says Michael Bröning, author of a new book on nationhood. And rising crime rates and cultural battles like the one in Essen are making society feel more raw. On New Year’s Eve 2015 in Cologne some 1,000 women were sexually assaulted by a crowd made up largely of immigrants. A year later an Islamist terrorist from Tunisia drove a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12. The titles of recent books and films—“Nervous Republic”, “Fear for Germany”, “The End of Germany”—capture the public mood at its gloomiest.
This raises a host of issues. First of all, notice the similarity to America, where Dallas, Houston and Atlanta vote Democratic and the surrounding areas are quite conservative. Also notice that the anti-immigrant feeling is strongest in the areas that have the fewest immigrants. Recall the massive support for Trump in West Virginia, which attracts almost no immigrants and benefits from trade with China. And notice that Germany has a booming manufacturing sector and a trade surplus, so the economic factors that supposedly drove support for Trump (which I doubt actually did) are not in play in Germany. I suspect that the increase in nationalism in Germany is occurring for the same reason as in Russia, India, Turkey, China, Hungary and dozens of other countries, and has almost nothing to do with the factors that we are told are pushing America toward right-wing populist authoritarianism. I have no idea what those factors are, indeed I’ve never even seen a plausible theory. BTW, if you want a better insight into the Trump phenomenon, then read this excellent article on the Modi phenomenon in India. The parallels are eerie. The bad news is that if I’m right, Trump is likely to be re-elected. (But my track record on political predictions is—spotty.)
PS. George Will takes the gloves off in the Washington Post, making a good case that Pence is even worse than Trump (a view I would have thought ridiculous a few months ago.)
And people think I have TDS!
PPS. At the other extreme from George Will is Conrad Black, who suggests that Trump was an honest businessman, and who describes his marriage to Melania as being free of stormy weather:
The relationship has apparently lasted smoothly for nearly 20 years
This piece somehow made it into the National Review. Do magazines still have editors?