Even in relatively calm moments in history, America is widely known for being at least a little self-involved. Although from a geographic standpoint we take up only a small portion of the Earth, a lot of news worldwide tends to focus on stuff happening in America and what America is doing in the world. And with our narcissistic, doubly self-involved president, that phenomenon is just intensified.
Of course, now that Trump is president and making his mark on history, there are a lot of things that make America a newsworthy topic to cover, but beyond that, it is very easy to forget that America is not alone in its political strife.
The fact of the matter is that while right now it might seem like America vs. The Rest Of The World, America is not the only country in the developed world with pseudo/pre-fascist problems. It wasn't even the first country to begin this global trend we're heading down.
Five months before Trump was even elected, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, a fact that has circulated the news in America a few times in the past few years but has hardly been fully developed or explained. The key proponents of Brexit, Nigel Farage, and Boris Johnson, utilized fear-mongering and racist tactics, in addition to downright lying, to convince voters to support the "leave" movement. These are some of the same tactics that Trump has used to gain support in America.
These two leaders are also affiliated with UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party), Britain's right-wing populist party. The party is somewhat analogous to the Tea Party in America, and in the wake of recent terrorist attacks in England, has been garnering a lot more support on the basis of widespread Islamophobia.
France, last year held an election for president, and of the two candidates in the second round of the election, one of them (luckily not the victor) was a right-wing populist, named Marine Le Pen, who supported a privileged partnership with Russia and the annexation of a portion of Belgium into France. And although France has had issues with Islamophobia from both sides of the aisle, Le Pen has advocated taking that to the next level, comparing Muslims praying in public with Nazi occupation.
Just last month Italy held its own election for Prime Minister which included among its frontrunners, Matteo Salvini, a fascist who advocated for the closure of all mosques and prevention of any and all refugees from entering Italy. And although he did not assume office, the man who did, Giuseppe Conte, has no political experience, appointed Matteo Salvini as Interior Minister, and has already closed Italy's ports to migrants.
And most recently, Mexico is holding an election on July 1st to determine their next president, and the front-runner is nationalist and populist Andres Manuel López Obrador, who is incredibly difficult to place on the political spectrum. He is considered left wing but is backed by several ultra-conservative groups, and is silent on the disparity.
And these are only a handful of the most dramatic examples. There are nationalist and fascist movements gaining popularity in pretty much every country in the world. Even Angela Merkel, who has become somewhat of an icon of Trump-resistance since their famous showdowns, has her share of issues with Islamophobia and the migrant crisis in Europe.
Trump is a symptom of the problem, not the problem in itself, and even if we manage to take him down, the developed world still has shocking problems with nationalism and fascism that are slowly rising to pre-WWI levels. If we take Trump down but fail to address the problem at the root of his demagoguery, we will find ourselves back with another Trump in just a few years time, or maybe even worse.
