In Britain and the USA, conservatives believing they could control the extremists to their right have both come a cropper this year. In the US, this comes after decades of far-right Republicans suppressing their resentment at the party’s establishment for never quite coming through in office with promises—like getting rid of Obamacare—they made soliciting votes. Cameron announcing in 2013 he would have a referendum on leaving the EU; Trump riding down his escalator to announce his run for the presidency: in each case both media and political elites saw these moves as fancifully playing to small audiences. Conventional political wisdom failed to grasp the gravity of what was being launched.
whatever has led to Brexit and whatever has led to Trump has roots in the social structure of today’s democracies. Which means that these are not issues that are going to go away in a single election year. And the threat of right-wing extremism coming to power is likely to be with us for some time to come.
Read the whole piece: www.huffingtonpost.com/...