In his most recent opinion column for the newspaper EL TIEMPO, published this Sunday, November 10, 2024, Mauricio Cárdenas, economist and former Minister of Finance of Colombia, analyzed what could come for the country after Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential elections.
(See: Trump’s return to the White House: California, the state that leads the ‘resistance’).
For Cárdenas, the trend that existed in Colombia and other countries in the region, such as Venezuela and Chile, regarding the Republican magnate’s desire for a victory demonstrates “a lot of dissatisfaction with the left“However, the expert explained, “People’s discontent with governments in countries like ours suggests that, with Trump on board in the United States, it will be easier to change the internal political equation. I think those who think like this are seeing a mirage.“.
Cardenas did a comparison between the next president of the United States and Gustavo Petro, current Colombian president, and said that They both use the same methods: “Dividing society between good and bad through the so-called ‘identity politics’, in which it is governed not for everyone, but for specific groups“.
(See: The Fed, a collateral victim of Trump’s return to the US Presidency?).
“Trump’s victory is a triumph of populism and polarization as an electoral strategy, of which Gustavo Petro is a stellar exponent. Despite being on opposite ideological shores, they use the same methods. Trump governs for non-college-educated white men dissatisfied with immigration and globalization. Petro, for an ethnic minority, a social or union cause, or a sexual identity. Both clash with the elites, intellectuals and technocrats, who are an easy target. Both prefer to invoke the people directly, above the institutions“, argument.
He reiterated that neither Trump nor Petro have terms such as ‘national unity’, ‘expert knowledge’, ‘general well-being’ and that their strategies focus on obtain control of the other powers, in addition to the Executive: “This had already been achieved by López Obrador (in Mexico), now Trump has achieved it and it is what Petro will seek“.
(See: Fight against drugs, migration and trade, within Trump’s agenda with Colombia).
Thus, Cárdenas asserted that “Those who think that Trump will be a local moderation factor are wrong. Quite the opposite: it will be a factor of radicalization, since it has been proven that as a political strategy it is successful. It will also be a factor of emboldening the extremes, in which we cannot rule out the appearance of local Elon Musks who want to share the platform, and power, with their preferred candidate.“.
Donald Trump.
Trump defeated Kamala Harris in the United States presidential election and will take office in January 2025. The tycoon had already been president of the North American giant between 2017 and 2021.
(See: Biden and Trump will meet on Wednesday to begin the transition in the White House).
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