If you want a picture of the future, imagine Donald Trump Jr, yelling about America’s bright and beautiful tomorrow — forever.
The image of the US president’s eldest son may differ in the details from that of Big Brother’s boot stamping on the human face. But the message of this week’s Republican National Convention is Orwellian. There is no perceptible platform or even ghost of a second term agenda for Donald Trump’s party. There is thus no possibility of dissent. His chief surrogates are his own family members. The message is Mr Trump, the whole Mr Trump and nothing but Mr Trump.
Those questioning the future of American democracy are behind the curve. Half of it has already packed up. Parties are what animate a democracy. There is no longer a Republican one distinct from the cult of personality it has become. It is neither conservative nor of any other discernible ideology. It is what Mr Trump says it is at any given moment. One day North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un may be America’s deadliest enemy. Standing ovation. The next day, Mr Kim is Mr Trump’s soul brother. The audience stays on its feet.