Was the Trump phenomenon a historical accident? Reinterpreting the history of the American right
The United States is changing its face, increasingly veering toward illiberalis. And "you haven't seen anything yet," Donald Trump promised on April 29, celebrating the first hundred days of his administration. The ongoing counter-revolution breaks with what was believed to be the foundation of American modernity. Already in 2016, the billionaire's first presidential election unsettled some certainties about the country's evolution, which particularly caught the attention of historians. They regretted not having identified what made such a presidency possible.
Rick Perlstein, an independent historian and journalist, became the main spokesperson for this sentiment in an op-ed for The New York Times published in April 2017: "The professional guardians of America's past, in short, had made a mistake. We advanced a narrative of the American right that was far too constricted to anticipate the rise of a man like Trump." A sense of urgency gripped the profession; books written after 2016 are now appearing in bookstores.
These historians do not merely revisit the trajectory followed by the right in the 20 th century; they also question the destiny of the US as a whole. Certain preconceived ideas about what the country thought it had become are being challenged. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the Civil Rights movement, advances in feminism, openness to the world, the defense of liberty – all of these developments appear much more fragile in light of these new works. They debunk a persistent myth, which was the source of an initial error in how the history of the right was written: that of the liberal consensus, or even the American consensus.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Auckland 'forklift drivers' lose 10-0 to Bayern in FIFA 'football farce'
The conflict between Israel and Iran continues to rage on, and features on many front pages this Monday morning. The Jerusalem Post leads with a photo of the destruction following a strike in the residential neighbourhood of Bat Yam. Iran Daily has photos of the aftermath of an Iranian strike on an Israeli power station in Haifa. Tehran Times, meanwhile, highlights the civilian victims of Israel's latest strikes on Iran. The Lebanese paper L'Orient-Le Jour points the finger at US President Donald Trump. French daily Libération says it is a "dynamic of the worst", saying it is in the interest of both parties to continue the conflict in order to stay in power. L'Humanité takes a clear stance on its front page, calling the conflict Benjamin Netanyahu 's war without limits. The Guardian has an opinion piece by Simon Tisdall. He says that the behaviour of the three leaders involved in the war – Trump, Netanyahu and Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei – raises serious doubts about their judgment, common sense, motives and even their sanity. The New York Times, meanwhile, says that diplomacy with Iran is damaged but not dead. Foreign Policy discusses how the war might end. It says that darker scenarios are most likely, including a potential regional war. The past weekend has been a busy one for football fans after the launch of FIFA 's controversial Club World Cup. The tournament is making headlines, but not for the best reasons. The Telegraph headlines with "Bayern thrash team of forklift drivers and fizzy drinks salesmen 10:0 in FIFA farce". Meanwhile, The Times reports that the Professional Footballers Association has joined a legal action against FIFA for abuse of power. In the UK, the Financial Times reports that Britain's foreign intelligence agency MI6 has appointed its first woman leader – a first in the organisation's 116-year history. Meanwhile in Germany, soldiers can now be punished for having an affair with each other's spouses because of the "danger of romantic strife eroding morale", as The Times reports.
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Trump rejected Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader, reports say
President Donald Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a US official has said. Israel recently told the Trump administration that it had a plan to assassinate Khamenei, according to the source, who spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity. The White House voiced its opposition to the move, the official said. The development, which follows similar reports from Reuters, comes after Israel launched a surprise attack against Iran on Friday, targeting its nuclear facilities and killing some senior military commanders and scientists. Iran responded by launching missile strikes against Israel, with the conflict now entering its fourth day. Asked about reports that Trump had rejected Israel's alleged Khamenei assassination plot, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday: 'There's so many false reports of conversations that never happened, and I'm not going to get into that. 'But I can tell you, I think that we do what we need to do, we'll do what we need to do. And I think the United States knows what is good for the United States." Netanyahu said he had been "in constant contact with President Trump" in recent days, adding that he had warned his US counterpart about Israeli strikes against Iran. "Obviously, we informed our American friends ... ahead of time," he said. Asked about Israel's decision to attack Iran, Netanyahu said regime change "could certainly be the result because the Iranian regime is very weak". Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri later called reports about the Israeli plan to kill Khamenei 'fake". Early on Sunday, Trump posted on social media, warning Iran not to attack US targets in the region and claiming that the conflict between Iran and Israel could "easily" be resolved. 'The US had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight. If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before. However, we can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!", he said. The Iran-Israel conflict will undoubtedly dominate Trump's talks with the leaders of the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union this week. Iran's Tasnim news agency on Sunday confirmed the deaths of the Islamic Revolutionary Corps intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi and his deputy Hassan Mohaqiq in Israeli attacks. Israel has said it attacked Iran on Friday to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has promised to stop firing missiles as soon as Israel stops striking Iran. The UK's MI6 spy agency has appointed its first female chief in its 116-year history, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced on Sunday. Blaise Metreweli, who is currently the foreign intelligence agency's director of technology and innovation, will take over from Richard Moore to become MI6's 18th leader. The agency's chief, referred to as "C", is the only publicly named member of the organisation and is accountable to the British foreign secretary. Metreweli, 47, is a career intelligence officer who joined the service in 1999. The Cambridge University graduate has mainly worked in Europe and the Middle East, and has held director-level positions at both MI6 and the domestic MI5 spy agency. 'I am proud and honoured to be asked to lead my service. MI6 plays a vital role - with MI5 and GCHQ - in keeping the British people safe and promoting UK interests overseas,' Metreweli said. 'I look forward to continuing that work alongside the brave officers and agents of MI6 and our many international partners,' she added. Starmer, who announced Metreweli's appointment after landing in Canada for the G7 summit, called her promotion 'historic', noting that it 'comes at a time when the work of our intelligence services has never been more vital'. 'The United Kingdom is facing threats on an unprecedented scale – be it aggressors who send their spy ships to our waters or hackers whose sophisticated cyber plots seek to disrupt our public services,' he said. Meanwhile, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy praised Metreweli, describing her as 'the ideal candidate to lead MI6 into the future'. 'At a time of global instability and emerging security threats, where technology is power and our adversaries are working ever closer together, Blaise will ensure the UK can tackle these challenges head on to keep Britain safe and secure at home and abroad,' he said. MI6 is the final British intelligence agency to appoint a woman as its leader. Stella Rimington led MI5 from 1992 to 1996, and Eliza Manningham-Buller later ran it between 2002 and 2007. In 2023, Anne Keast-Butler became the first female head of the electronic and cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ. During his tenure, Moore, the outgoing head of MI6, vowed to make the organisation more diverse, writing on X in 2023 that he would 'help forge women's equality by working to ensure I'm the last C selected from an all-male shortlist'.
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
At the G7, it's Trump against the rest, in a chaotic world
The 50 th annual G7 summit opened on Sunday, June 15, in Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies, with one main objective: to avoid a repeat of the last G7 meeting held in Canada, in 2018, when President Donald Trump, then in his first term in office, left the summit, furious, and refused to sign the final joint statement, threatening to impose tariffs on his partners and calling the host country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, "very dishonest and weak." Today, the atmosphere is even more toxic as the leaders of the seven largest Western economies (the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy), plus the European Union, meet. Two wars are raging in the immediate neighborhoods of G7 countries: Russia's war on Ukraine and, since Friday, the conflict between Israel and Iran, which has come in addition to the war being waged in Gaza. US tariffs are no longer just a threat but a reality, with the rates currently being negotiated, and the G7's organizers have found an effective way to avoid the issue of a final joint statement: There won't be one. As for Trudeau's successor, Mark Carney, he has found himself in the unusual position of hosting a US president who has repeatedly claimed that his country, Canada, should be the 51 st US state, and to whom he has had to explain that his country is not for sale. Displaying a united front for Europeans It is now common knowledge that Trump's second presidency is much more offensive than the first was. The divisions within what can hardly still be called the "Western family" have now been fully brought out into the open. Meanwhile, European efforts have mainly focused on avoiding a brutal break with the US, rather than trying to conceal the discomfort caused by division. In light of this new reality, a successful summit is one without any melodrama or major confrontation. Limiting the damage has become a goal in and of itself. Amid such an atmosphere, the Europeans' priority must be to present a united front. Even though it will loom over the discussions, the issue of tariffs – which have thrown global trade into chaos – should be left to negotiations between the US and the European Union. Instead, points of convergence can be found on some chosen topics, which Canada has selected for separate discussions, such as the fields of energy security, critical minerals, or emerging technologies. For the rest, the European and Japanese leaders are faced with an American president who, on returning to the White House in January, boasted that he could broker peace in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as persuade Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions, and who has failed on all counts. They will, therefore, have to remain firm on Ukraine and make good use of the presence of its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at a part of the summit, to once again try to rally Trump to support their stance on Russia. Trump has regularly suggested that Russia be readmitted to the G7, something that is clearly out of the question, just as his suggestion, on Sunday, of Russian mediation in the conflict between Israel and Iran was also unacceptable. On this latest flashpoint, which risks dominating the discussions due to the risk of escalation and its impact on energy markets, getting President Trump to clarify his strategy would already be an achievement. If, that is, he even has one.
