The world according to Trump — the latest foul demagogue

 How did a kitschy, carnival performer propel himself to the brink of power in the most powerful country in the world? asks Bernard-Henri Lévy

The word ‘trump’, according to the dictionary, is an alteration of the word triumph. And because Donald Trump, the US presidential candidate, appears likely to become the nominee of the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, we owe it to ourselves to ask how and for whom he represents a triumph.

One thinks of a segment of the US population angered by the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, a group now feeling vengeful. And one also thinks of the white supremacist, segregationist, nativist strain represented by former Ku Klux Klan leader, David Duke, whose noisy support Trump was so hesitant to reject last week and for whose constituency Trump may be a make-or-break candidate.