Can populism save the West?

What is happening in the Western world is scary and upsetting to many but exciting and full of promise to others. It might seem a banality to say the world is changing, but the world is changing – rapidly, inevitably, sometimes unpredictably and painfully. Those who don't realize it, acknowledge it, and adapt risk being overtaken by history. In Europe and America, we have seen rejection of the old way of doing things. Populists (justly called "the forgotten") are emerging everywhere as a force to be reckoned with. The reaction of the establishment has been hysterical, childish, unhinged. The accusations and forecasts of doom against Brexit in the U.K., Trump in America, Salvini in Italy, Kurtz in Austria, Akesson in Sweden, Orbán in Hungary (all of whom epitomize the ongoing changes) often are appalling when not risible. Deplorables, racists, fascists, nazis – no insult has been spared to label those who want only respect and consideration for themselves and their countries but have been betrayed by their governments and by the intelligentsia now working full-time for the elites.

Despite multiculturalism's total and abject failure and the suffering caused by the excesses of globalism, elites have used every trick, insult, and deployment of thugs, enlisting Hollywood types, sports persons, TV personalities, journalists, and even Miss America contestants to defend the status quo ante. Events such as funerals and commemorations of tragedies seem not sacred anymore, but become opportunities to threaten, offend, score political points, rally voters. Moreover, the tech giants like Google, Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Twitter continue to oppose Trump, notwithstanding the revival of the economy, seemingly more interested in H-1B visas than in anything else, while Nike, Apple, Levi Strauss, and Co. hate to put at risk their cheap labor supply chains abroad. Most recently, the discredited and ineffectual U.N. is accusing Italy of human rights abuses and racism against illegals while (don't laugh) electing Saudi Arabia to the Women's Rights Commission and more recently to the Executive Board of U.N. Women (United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women). People are not stupid, and this behavior, thank goodness, backfires most of the time. However, what is worrying is not their ridiculous antics, but the fact that in their desperation, they are increasingly and dangerously inching toward anti-democratic positions such as censorship (social media communications systems like those mentioned above reflect and feed their bubble); the leaking of fake information by anonymous sources; and the use of the judiciary to thwart the plans of political opponents, or, even worse, to suggest that democracy and universal suffrage should be scrapped (or the Electoral College in the U.S.) in favor of more useful – that is, cynically exploitable – political systems (unelected European Union bureaucrats, anyone?). Trump-haters are a case in point: how else to explain why a booming economy, increased security, and realistic foreign policy would trigger abnormal reactions, criminal threats, and ridiculous statements? It should be pointed out that Trump's undeniable successes have been achieved despite a conservative fifth column, despite an out-of-control Deep State (as confirmed by the New York Times' anonymously written op-ed), despite the relentless albeit inconclusive Mueller investigation, despite 90% negative media, despite a noxious legacy still in the process of being dismantled, despite a progressive culture of identity politics, victimhood, and entitlement expectations. These are some of the results Trump has achieved to date: Economy growing at 4.2 percent per year

Jobless claims (unemployment subsidies) at 50-year low

Minority unemployment at historical low

Manufacturing jobs making a comeback

Wages increased by 2.9 percent year over year to the highest level since April 2009

Reduced illegal immigration

Black-owned businesses increased 400 percent

Black approval for Trump is now 36 percent (Rasmussen). Hispanics' and Asians' have increased as well thanks to more jobs and better economy.

Drastic reduction of job-stifling regulations

Moved U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel (law approved in 1995 and never implemented)

Cutting funds to UNRWA, a parasitic organization abetting Palestinian terrorism

Saw ISIS lose virtually all of its territory

Appointed Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch (with Brett Kavanaugh awaiting a confirmation vote at the time of this writing), more than 75 federal district judges, and 26 appeals court judges

Keystone Pipeline finally under construction; ANWR oil fields will be reopened

Concrete moves to equalize our trade balance with other countries to the point of proposing to abolish tariffs

NATO countries finally increasing defense budgets by billions of euros You can see why any spin the media want to put on these numbers or attempts to disparage Trump's performance are completely ludicrous. We should also list under "successes" the slow and laborious denuclearization of North Korea; the mounting pressure on Iran's regime, whose economy is imploding; the withdrawing from the JCPOA, the worst possible agreement with an enemy, which only an Obama, desperate for some kind of legacy, could have pushed through; and, last but not least, the scrapping of the Paris Climate Accord. This last issue highlights unequivocally the globalists' hypocrisy. As we all know, emerging countries are exempted from the harsh limits on CO2 emissions as they rush to develop their economies, but few know that Germany, who jointly proclaimed with Macron that " the Paris Climate Treaty is irreversible and cannot be renegotiated " and blasted Trump for his withdrawal, "on August 20th, 2017, removed her own country from the primary treaty demands. Five months later, January 2018, again Angela Merkel withdrew entirely from the 2020 carbon emission reduction goal." How many people have seen this in print or heard it on TV? Don't give up. The globalist elites finally are playing defense.