The empire is sick and shaky... and is Trump(ism) the cause or just the symptom?

Jacques and Jennifer do some post-Trump analysis, looking at how Trump's victory in the US elections could even happen.They argue that the rot has been there for centuries, with an individualist ideology embedded in the psyche of the people from the US's inception. Conditions have ripened for the triumph of a cult figure like Trump in more recent times, including a poorly educated populace, struggles with the cost of living, the dominance of neoliberal policies favourable to big business, desertion of the disenfranchised by the Democratic party, and the take over of electoral processes by big money (just to name a few).The Politics of Cultural DespairIt is despair that is killing us. It fosters what Roger Lancaster calls “poisoned solidarity,” the intoxication forged from the negative energies of fear, envy, hatred and a lust for violence. Chris Hedges (https://substack.com/@chrishedges)