This is Why the Approval Scores of Many Western Leaders are Collapsing
The gap between ideology and the daily reality of citizens is becoming explosive.
Every political and social order has two sides: what the small elite and the minority that benefits fully from it want everyone to believe, and the reality in which most members actually live. These two never coincide, but this discrepancy need not be a major problem. However, if the difference becomes too large and too obvious, and persists for too long, no system can remain unchanged.
None of the above is new. Shrewd observers have long understood that the situation becomes precarious when a majority loses its faith in – or at least passive acceptance of – the prevailing ideology (in the original sense of the term, namely as the elite’s fanciful story about reality that keeps the non-elite docile), writes Tarik Cyril Amar .
In such a situation, things will change, but it is difficult to predict exactly how. An acute discrepancy between ideology and reality can lead to an uprising and, if successful, to revolution. But it can also lead to the elites stepping up their indoctrination or cracking down more strictly, with more direct coercion to keep subordinates in line. There is also always the option of waging war against enemies abroad—real or, much more likely, imaginary—to divert attention from the divisions at home. Finally, all of the above can occur in a chaotic sequence, or even simultaneously.
Despite differences and tensions, the West does indeed constitute a certain form of political and social order. In the ideology of the elites, as disseminated by their compliant mainstream media, it is a fairytale realm of political and economic freedom, in which representative democracy is combined with free markets, the rule of law, individualism, and superior “values” to create the best possible world. In reality, of course, it is a dark zone of capitalist oligarchy with increasingly authoritarian tendencies. Not the cozy Shire of the Hobbits; rather, the domain of Sauron under construction.
Markets, for example, are not “free,” but are routinely and shamelessly manipulated by insiders. Currently, for instance, both the start of the criminal Israeli-American war against Iran and deliberately timed, repeated rumors of peace have enabled manipulative transactions worth billions of dollars.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, can be regarded as the malicious Big Bang of our current version of mass manipulation, authoritarian power grabs in the name of “emergency measures ,” permanent warfare, and lies so intense that it is sometimes difficult to remember that a truth exists. As the rebellious American ex-MAGA conservative Tucker Carlson has just reminded us , 9/11 was also accompanied by—and preceded by—trade, for which the description “highly suspicious” is an understatement.
Democratic political representation and freedom of thought and speech are, at best, if not outright deceptions, then myths. That is to say, a messy hodgepodge of fragments of reality and large doses of fabrications. The rare pieces of reality are now dwindling ever further.
As far as freedom is concerned, Great Britain under the widely hated Starmer regime is, for example, a Zionist police state . It goes further than vilifying and suppressing every action on behalf of the victims of Israel’s crimes, including genocide, as “ antisemitism”; it also condemns every public expression of solidarity with the victims. There is no rule of law worthy of the name: perfectly legitimate expressions are banned as “terrorist,” the police intimidate political dissidents, as do the courts and their procedures. These are unreliable in themselves (just ask Julian Assange), and are shamelessly distorted to produce unfair trials and punitive measures.
As far as representation is concerned, take Germany, for example: it now has a breathtakingly, historically unpopular government that is only in power because there were widespread and statistically bizarre counting errors during the last elections, which together – quite non-randomly – ensured that an entirely new left-wing party (the BSW), and with it its voters, were conveniently eliminated from parliament.
Meanwhile, the German New Right Party (AfD) and its voters are openly threatened with unconstitutional penalties if they dare to be too successful: vote too much for the AfD and your child’s high school diploma will be treated like dirt . Yes, that crude; that really is the current level of shamelessness among the self-radicalizing centrists in Germany.
Moreover, even the most conformist inhabitants of the West can no longer close their eyes to the empirical fact that conspiracies are all too real and exert a great, gruesome influence through nefarious means. You cannot make your masses firmly believe in both the myth of fair popular representation and in an Epstein scandal; it is proof of the massive overrepresentation of a very specific group of interests, and even foreign states, through networks of subversion and blackmail. The system might survive initially, but its foundations will be undermined by mass frustration and cynicism.
In short, the western states have a lot in common today, and most of it is terrible. That is why we now see one major trend everywhere: in the words of the Wall Street Journal – which is generally not known for subversive dissent – “ Europeans are fed up and are taking it out on their leaders .” Polls show that there is enormous discontent throughout NATO-EU-Europe. And this applies not only to polls, but also to real elections: the British Starmer regime has just suffered a terrible defeat in the local elections, which could well signal the imminent end of the dysfunctional and unfair two-party system in the United Kingdom.
In a survey assessing the popularity of 24 leaders, the three worst-performing were the government leaders of France, Germany, and the UK: the top of the NATO-EU-European complex is occupied by the least popular leaders. But that does not mean that others are doing much better. The leaders of Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain all have disapproval ratings between 55 and 57 percent.
But what would the West be without its “indispensable” leader? Just leaf through the Financial Times , another mainstream media outlet that stands above any suspicion of rebellion, and you will see that discontent prevails on the other side of the Atlantic as well: in the US, more than half of all voters disapprove of President Trump’s policies just as well.
Nearly 60 percent are dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of inflation. Like his terrible predecessor, the elderly accomplice to the Gaza genocide Joe Biden, Trump is now haunted by a cost-of-living crisis. Just like Biden, Trump has only himself to blame: the two main factors driving up consumer prices are his crude import tariffs and his predictable fiasco in Iran. Fifty-five percent of voters believe that Trump has damaged the economy; only a quarter think that he has helped it.
It is always tempting to focus on each instance of malaise individually: here, for example, the German mess with its peculiar East-West tension and its comically self-pitying leader Friedrich Merz; there the French decline with its constitutional design flaws and the raging narcissist Emmanuel Macron at the center; and there again the traditional subservience of the British establishment to the US, combined with its perverse relationship to Zionism and genocidal Israel. In the case of America, it is of course the upcoming midterm elections that attract the most attention.
But what if we consider the longer term? Where is all this misery heading? Here, too, more than one outcome is possible. Complete openness: I find the situation so desperate that I wouldn’t mind rebellion and revolution. But it would be foolish not to consider other scenarios, namely those the Western elites would prefer: increasing repression is already a clear fact. Distraction by war abroad is likewise a possibility: those who call the Israeli-American attack on Iran ‘Operation Epstein’ (instead of ‘Epic’) Fury have hit the nail on the head. Berlin, being Berlin, is naturally preparing to confront Russia directly (as opposed to “merely” indirectly as is currently the case), and unfortunately, the same applies to a large part of the NATO-EU complex. The future is unpredictable. Except for one thing: change is inevitable. Do not count on it being for the better.
https://www.frontnieuws.com/dit-is-waarom-de-goedkeuringsscores-van-veel-westerse-leiders-instorten