US President Donald Trump (R) waits to greet Prime Minister of Japan Ishiba Shigeru (not pictured) at the White House, Washington, DC, on 7 February 2025. [Will Oliver/EPA]
The worst thing for a country’s elite is losing touch with society and living in a bubble of its own, virtual, reality. History is rife with examples the devastating results this can have.
US President Donald Trump is a living example. A Greek-American friend of very liberal and center-left views recently expressed his frustration at the constraints of excessive political correctness and everything this leads to. He cited the example of an unbelievable debate in the state where he lives: over whether an illegal migrant convicted of a serious crime should be deported from the United States as soon as he’s released. Progressive Democrats think deportation is unjust. What with one thing like this and another, what with “third” restrooms at public schools etc, the situation got completely out of hand and the American political elite lost touch with its middle class.
It is very easy for an elite to become cut off from regular folk. Intellectuals and those teaching in the big American universities were in an ivory tower where it was almost impossible to hear divergent views. Those who expressed a different opinion were browbeaten, creating a climate of hysteria and fear.
As for the Democratic elite, it felt comfortable only in New York, Boston, London and Paris, and ill at ease in the average US city. It began to resemble the European elite in many ways, while surrounding itself with cosmopolitan types from show business, journalism and Wall Street. This is why it failed to hear the roar of anger the first time it erupted, in 2016. Even though it eventually got the message – surprisingly and harshly – it failed to learn. It found itself unable to get Joe Biden to step down and with a weak candidate who had never connected with the “other America.”
Trump has embarked on his second term with a tsunami of declarations and unpredictable decisions that have monopolized the agenda and left little room for reaction. The Democrats need to regroup and find a way to reconnect with the “other half.” They need to acknowledge their mistakes and the exaggerations of the intellectuals and the activists. Of course, there are those who insist that the rising cost of living is to blame for everything and who refuse to venture out of their microcosm. The defeat, however, has been severe and demands a period of house cleaning and introspection.
What is the worst thing the Democrats can do right now? Repeat the mistake Hillary Clinton made in 2016 of insulting Trump’s supporters. We’re already getting an increasing dose of this attitude from both coasts from people blaming Trump’s voters for his antics: “They’re idiots and deserve what they get;” “I’ll have nothing to do with this country anymore;” “They’re all lunatics.” By carrying on in this way, they will indeed have nothing more to do with the country and they will lose any connection with American society that remains. They forget that Trumpism has deep roots and a lot of clout, and it will still be there even after Trump.
