Rising public passions sparked by an overheated “cancel culture,” and by the looming showdown between candidates Biden and Trump, signal that American nationalism and its agenda will be central to the coming presidential election. For perspective, it is useful to look closely at the Western world’s three most famous (or infamous) nationalists.
Those three—without question the most controversial, vilified, infuriating, wily, resilient, and consequential Western politicians of the new century—are Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Benjamin Netanyahu.
While each has a singular profile in his own country’s history, collectively they embody the surging forces of Western nationalism that have powerfully challenged the impulse toward globalization which only five years ago seemed to be an irresistible tide.
Through the emotional chords they have sounded amongst large proportions of their populations, and the unforeseen political success that resulted, these three men have conclusively demonstrated that far from being a spent force, the idea of nationhood which has long animated human history still commands an enduring loyalty among the peoples of the West.
Yet to fully understand what these men have wrought they must be seen in the company of other, more assertive and less benign nationalists now extant on the world stage—such men as China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin, India’s Modi, and Brazil’s Bolsonaro.
Looking at this broader context we are compelled to re-examine the long-held notion—central to the concept of globalization—that the world was progressively evolving toward a multinational ideal of governance best expressed through the “soft power” of international organizations and multilateral agreements.
Seen in this light, the electoral successes of Trump, Johnson, and Netanyahu cannot be dismissed as political accidents or temporary aberrations that can be put right with a single “good” election. Rather they must be seen as predictable reactions to the anguish and damage inflicted on large swaths of middle and lower class populations that had heretofore reliably voted for parties of the Left.
These populations openly revolted against the forces of Globalization that destroyed or offshored millions of good-paying jobs while offering nothing in return but bromides about “retraining” or permanent dependence on government handouts.
Adding insult to injury, these people saw their long-cherished traditions of religion, patriotism, and culture undermined and openly mocked as mere symptoms of a decaying and bigoted underclass without which the world would be a better place.
The opening salvo in this revolt was the astonishing, against-all-odds victory of Brexit in June 2016 which was followed only five months later by the even more astounding electoral earthquake which propelled Donald Trump to the White House.
Taken completely unaware by these elections, Anglo-American elites were further infuriated when Johnson (succeeding the caretaker Tory prime minister Theresa May) and Trump proceeded to successfully deliver on their main promises—“Get Brexit Done” in Johnson’s case and put “America First” while turbo-charging the economy for Trump.
Meanwhile in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu was—like his Anglo-American counterparts—correctly reading what most observers missed: underlying forces that were steadily changing the political allegiances of national electorates.
After a half-century of a “Peace Process” which had delivered only unrelenting Palestinian hostility and constantly recurring acts of terrorism, key segments of the Israeli electorate—disproportionately younger voters—concluded that any “solution” that would please “international opinion” would do nothing for their security or hopes for a normal future.
They further concluded that despite his controversies the only national political leader who could be trusted to advance their aspirations was Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ultimate legacies of these men, all of them still embattled within their polarized political environments, cannot yet be judged. However beyond any doubt their unyielding commitment to national sovereignty has dramatically changed their societies in ways that will not be easily reversed.
In concert with determined nationalist adversaries like Xi and Putin, and unpredictable friends like Modi and Bolsonaro, these three singular men have made clear that the future direction of world affairs will be largely driven by leaders elevated to power within individual nations—rather than by faceless, unaccountable corporations and supranational organizations.
Through all of this it has also become self-evident that it is not Nationalism but rather Globalization that is the recent aberration—which now must be reformed in ways that will somehow make it not the engine of income inequality and misery for the less fortunate it has become, and more their benefactor instead, as we were falsely promised at the outset.
Bill Moloney is a Fellow in Conservative Thought at Colorado Christian University 's Centennial Institute and a former Colorado Commissioner of Education. His columns have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, Washington Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, Denver Post, Human Events and The Hill.