Compared to Modi and Erdogan, Trump is One of the World's Lamer Demagogues

Business Standard Compared to Modi and Erdogan, Trump is one of the world's lamer demagogues

Two self-proclaimed outsiders to the political system, Erdogan and Modi also rose to political power on the back of anger and disaffection with the establishments.

US Election 2020: Four years after his shock victory, U.S. President Donald Trump seems to be running on empty. Opinion polls predict a win for former Vice President Joe Biden. In some Democratic circles, the word “landslide” is being jubilantly whispered.

It seems that Trump is finally being judged on his performance, especially his calamitous response to the coronavirus pandemic. His Republican colleagues have begun to recoil from him. The president himself, already complaining about rigged elections, seems to be expecting defeat.

And it is too late for him to learn from two of his fellow elected autocrats and demagogues — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who continue to win elections despite presiding over multiple political and economic disasters.

Two self-proclaimed outsiders to the political system, Erdogan and Modi also rose to political power on the back of anger and disaffection with the establishments in their respective countries.

Railing against the corruption and nepotism of local elites, they endeared themselves to numerous left-behinds. Like Donald Trump, they connected with the lived experience of millions of people — the feeling of being scorned as well as excluded by establishment politicians and the mainstream media.