JOEL KOTKIN: The populist dilemma. “The recent upsurge in support for populist conservatives, not only across Europe, but in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and even India has inspired talk of a ‘a nationalist revival’ and ‘the cosmic magnetism’ of Donald Trump and Brexit. Here, it is argued, is a movement that finally can take on both the Green-oriented and increasingly authoritarian left. Yet maybe it’s time for right-wingers to put down the Champagne glasses. Conservative nationalists may have made considerable headway, but in many countries, the geographic, demographic and economic tide continues to pull the other way toward ever more politically correct, climate-obsessed rule from above.”

But see: Think America can ditch Trump in 2020? The world says otherwise. “Treating Donald Trump as an anomaly is misguided. Look around the globe: He’s the new normal. . . . American news is often parochial, barely noticing developments around the world outside of the occasional feature on NPR. But Trump-style populism is breaking out all over, upending the staid, polite politics of nation after nation. . . . It’s understandable that politicians, pundits and lobbyists who prospered under the old order would want to return to its, in retrospect, genteel ways. But voters will not be shamed into renouncing their frustration with politics as usual. The more insults hurled, the greater the populist reaction.” And his counterparts abroad, like Trump himself, are achieving considerable policy success.

I do think it’s impossible to understand today’s politics without thinking in terms of the class struggle.