Only in America. As Donald Trump bids for the Republican nomination for the White House, the rest of the world looks on bemused or aghast. The reaction of allies, it is fair to say, sometimes carries a tinge of condescension. Where else but the US, with all its big, brash vulgarity, would someone bidding for the nation’s highest office boast publicly about the size of his penis?
At a glance, the frontrunner in the Republican race is one of a kind. The profanity, the comb-over, the misogyny, the bullying brittleness, the sheer absurdity of a billionaire New York property developer posing as a tribune of the people — all these things set him apart. Prissy Europeans should be careful when casting judgment, however. Those looking for an explanation for the rage, for the xenophobic nationalism, the authoritarianism and the beggar-thy-neighbour protectionism need only look over their shoulder.
There is more to the story than the character of Mr Trump. He is effect rather than cause, the unpleasant face of a political insurgency that spans the Atlantic. The terms of politics in many of the world’s advanced democracies had changed well before he joined the Republican primary contest. If the party of Lincoln now risks being devoured by its own terrible creation, the European model of consensual centrism has been under threat for some time. Mr Trump’s flair, if you can call it that, has been in riding the wave.