Has anything happened recently? Let's take a look. . .
On November 5, Donald Trump rose like a zombie from his political grave, narrowly surviving a real assassination, and decisively defeating Kamala Harris in the US presidential election.
This was not just a loss for the Democratic Party. It was the overthrow of “our democracy,” a regime that felt so virtuous and scientific that it was expected to last forever.
Two days later, the German government collapsed. Although the cause appears to be a disagreement over the budget, it is actually due to the principals' inability to tolerate each other.
Germany's economy is flat and the political class has no idea how to respond other than bickering. Nevertheless, elections are expected to be held early next year.
On December 3, South Korea's president, locked in a political battle with the opposition majority in parliament, tried to gain the upper hand by declaring martial law. He says his opponents are actually a bunch of communists who are Kim Jong-un's agents, and since they are elected officials, it's best to eliminate this thing called democracy. insisted.
It didn't work. Within 24 hours, martial law was not declared by Congress, and the sitting president suddenly found himself with a lot of explaining to do.
hardly a democracy
Two days later, the French government collapsed. The reason, as you can probably guess, is that they couldn't come up with a budget that wouldn't cause car arson riots on the streets of Paris.
The French have already finished their elections. In an unusual development for democracy, President Emmanuel Macron called on all the losers to form a government and shut out the winners.
Four days later, in another interesting take on how a democracy should work, Romania's Constitutional Court canceled the presidential election because the victory of the “far-right” populists seemed certain.
On TikTok, one of the most powerful and persuasive platforms of all, rumors of a Russian disinformation campaign to manipulate public opinion in favor of populists have circulated.
Two days later, Islamist guerrillas invaded Damascus, ending Bashar al-Assad's bloody dictatorship. People all over the world cheered. Joe Biden got up from his comfy couch long enough to take full credit and provide “humanitarian relief” funding to Syria's new rulers.
But wait. This group, currently in charge of Syria, is an estimated recipient of Biden's largesse and is on our government's terrorist list. There is a $10 million bounty on the leader's head.
Are there any threads or themes other than their closeness in time that connect these disparate events?
The first obvious impression is that it is very unstable. I think this is a work that accurately captures not only the surface but also the depth.
The world has crossed an invisible border and entered a new era. Everything familiar looks strange, everything solid has crumbled to pieces.
Ten years ago, I wrote: “The clock of history stops at one minute to midnight.”
The many siren roars we hear today are a warning that midnight is near and gone. It's already a minute past midnight, but history is gripping us with all its hardships and triumphs.
global conflict
The old relationship between power and money, whose legitimacy only yesterday became self-evident, suddenly seems false and unnatural, if not absurd.
Venerable institutions that functioned well under the old system are ill-adapted to the new system, leading most to decadence and failure.
Ancient ideals, especially democracy, have lost their meaning and are in urgent need of translation to suit changed circumstances.
The causes of this change are unclear and complex. But one thing is certain: the tumultuous events I have listed, like many that have come before and others that will come, have people who want to cling to the old ways at all costs and people who want to move forward. It is caused by global conflicts between people.
Nowhere is this twilight struggle more vicious than here in the United States, where both sides are fighting evenly.
For the past four years, reactionary elites led by the Biden administration have waged an unprecedented campaign to freeze the status quo by destroying Trump, an in-depth change agent.
Their methods include censorship of digital platforms, corruption in artificial intelligence, judicial persecution, “debanking” (removing hated entrepreneurs from the financial system simply because they can), and debunking critics. It included unleashing the IRS and regulatory machinery.
Nothing like this has been seen since the days of President John Adams and the Alien and Sedition Acts.
But for all their advantages, Democrats were defeated by President Trump on November 5th.
The advantage now shifts to the other side. The election is just the first act of this drama.
President Trump has appointed persecuted people like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Jay Bhattacharyya to lead the organizations that persecuted them. These individuals have every incentive to expose all unethical and illegal conspiracies hidden by the organizations they run.
Welcome to Washington's elite's 2025 version of the horror movie “Saw” — and the screams will be loud and true.
populist resistance
In Romania, reactionary forces produced the opposite result. Pretexts were devised to prevent populist candidate Karin Georgescu from winning the presidency, but Biden lacked ingenuity compared to Trump.
Georgescu is a rare populist. He is a member of the Romanian and European establishment and has been working on “sustainable” economics, for example at the Club of Rome. But he has treaded into taboo territory with his public praise of Vladimir Putin, his distrust of NATO and his assertion of national sovereignty.
He is also an eccentric who doubts the truth about the moon landing.
Simply put, he's a strange package. And he'll probably make a terrible president.
But what is the meaning of the slippery word “democracy” when a handful of judges can set aside the wishes of millions of voters? And if voters are so keen to reject them as to accept Georgescu's confusing contradictions, what about Romania's mainstream parties?
Russians using TikTok is a frivolous reason to cancel the election. If Romanian reactionaries want to turn democracy into pure inertia, they will need a better excuse. Otherwise, they will soon face voters again and the possibility of truly painful change.
The United States and Romania represent the two extremes in a future conflict. In between are Germany and France.
The rulers of the old order are strong in both countries, but populist parties on the right and left are steadily encroaching on their workspace.
The same shriveled corpses of once muscular political parties continue to hold on to power, chanting the same archaic gibberish that always ends in failure.
Elections are meaningless. It will take longer than ever to hold together a government that staggers and flounders for a while, then collapses in record time.
A simple solution is to widen the political spectrum by sharing power with populists (such as Germany's Alternative for Germany and France's Rally National).
But that's unthinkable. It would give legitimacy to the “far right,” but in the world of elite morality it would be equivalent to a kind of Nazi revival.
So we come back to difficult questions about democracy. Why should people who vote for populist parties be essentially disenfranchised?
If these political parties pose a danger to democracy, they should be banned. If they represent legitimate opinions that the elites don't like, then the elites should defeat them at the polls.
But once competition is allowed, their votes should count equally as those of the mainstream in the distribution of power.
I think it will be difficult to sustain the current keep-away game much longer.
From coup to farce
Let's now turn our attention to the excitement in South Korea and Syria. If you look closely, you'll find an interesting contrast.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol attempted to use violence from above to solidify the unstable status quo. He sent the military to surround the Capitol and prevent lawmakers from entering.
This is the kind of thing people are accusing President Trump of wanting to do. But even in the context of South Korea, where the tradition of democratic institutions is much weaker, the whole thing had an appealingly unsettling, old-fashioned feel.
The protesters overwhelmed the soldiers. Members of Congress stormed the building and rejected martial law.
Not a single shot was fired. South Korea's democracy was strong enough to flip the scenario from a coup to a farce.
The Hayat Tahrir al-Sham guerrillas that occupied Damascus similarly encountered little resistance in seizing power through violence from below.
The brutal dynasty of father and son Assad came to an end when its enforcers took off their military uniforms and integrated into the population.
The status quo collapsed overnight, and the Syrian people breathed a breath of freedom for the first time in more than 50 years.
How long that lasts depends on the recently installed Islamist rulers.
The difference between Seoul and Damascus was clear. History moves in a certain direction. Events erupt with volcanic force from below.
Ruling elites, hierarchies, and reactionaries desperately wield weakened institutions to maintain their control over society.
Sometimes, as in Romania, there are uneasy victories. As elsewhere, we are often defeated and swept away by the tide.
We have emerged from the era of paralysis and are now venturing into the unknown. Nothing is given or predetermined. The course of events, driven by the collision of present and past, appears to promote the rise of democratic freedom, but is also nihilistic and barbaric.
The new era has not yet earned its name.
historical significance
Meanwhile, recent events give us reason for hope.
On December 7, the reborn Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened to the public after a devastating fire in 2019 nearly gutted the magnificent structure.
Earth's mightiest attended the opening ceremony, and as expected, had some strange interactions. President Trump and President Macron engaged in a long, awkward arm-wrestle for a minute. Jill Biden appeared to be looking at Trump with a startled look.
Fortunately, none of that mattered.
Notre Dame's comeback is a triumph of spirit. Here you will find ancient monuments that lovingly ushered in turbulent times. Here you will find a treasure of Gothic Christianity that shines even in the digital age.
Beyond powerful politicians and soaring music, beyond Catholic aspirations and French pride, we saw bright parts of our ancient ancestral cultures shining like lighthouses to the new. We must always remember that history gives more than it loses.
