Don’t we love him…Rude, ignorant and brash but what a headline grabber! Insulting your host whilst being wined and dined is quite something. Wandering into Brexit without reading Theresa May’s proposals, praising Boris Johnson and looking forward to a meeting with the vile Putin more than one with his allies, has all been the roller coaster ride we expected.
But when we look back on this period of Trump, almost certainly likely to be 8 years as the Democrats drift to the Left and the US economy roars, it may well be with a degree of nostalgia. Trump is an economic nationalist but he has no process, no coherent philosophy and rarely prepares. He will not make the most of his time in office in terms of changing the world. His ability to shock will diminish and complacent liberal democrats will see him as a one off.
But we should be worried. Because what comes after Trump may be much worse. Read and watch the Steve Bannons of this world. Nationalist, isolationist, attacking even modest political correctness and increasingly organised, they are incubating a hatred of liberal democracy. They loathe those governments perceived to be ‘debasing citizenship’ and central banks that debase currencies. They advocate economic wars and work up many of the average voters with extreme and threatening language.
And the trend, as they say, is their friend. The AfD is flourishing in Germany, as is the far-right in Austria. Radical nationalists are making in-roads into Italian politics whilst populists seize the agenda across Eastern Europe. We have Putin and Brexit. In no particular order one could go on.
Economic nationalism is here to stay as the world order of global cooperation weakens. Liberal democrats seem unable or unwilling to oppose effectively, complacent as they are or simply bogged down with the frustrating minutiae of decent government.
Imagine if a successor to Trump had a plan, a philosophy to unite the forces of nationalist populism without caring about casualties along the way. Smart, organised and with clear convictions, such a leader could make a huge impact.
Many people believe the state of international politics is now direr than it has been for decades. But it could get worse. This may seem bleak but a more coherent, coordinated version of Trump could devastate liberal democracy for a generation.
In this context, an opposing, coordinated force of ‘muscular moderatism’ has never been more needed.
Inside Right Politics 
Spot on Julian
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