We need to start asking why.

people are tired and pissed of being name called by extreme left for any sensible conversation.

I really think it's because people are struggling and many live in poverty without hope. It's under these conditions that populism gains momentum and fascism breeds. Just look at the parallels with Nazi Germany.

This response nails it. I would not have voted for Trump as I prioritise other issues, but these points are very significant. Gordon Brown failed to grasp the immigration point in 2010. A person who questions policy on immigration and work because her son is facing minimum wage competition from Eastern Europeans after he’s trained and is certified in the trades is not a bigot. That is a reasonable concern to have for your children’s future. The response ought to be to look at wage rates - but it is not acceptable to simply do nothing and accuse people of bigotry. Neither is it acceptable to leave the gender identity issue unchallenged. I have never really been a fan of home schooling but I would remove my DC from any classroom where a teacher is claiming that people can change sex. And neither is it acceptable to permit a housing system that forces people to move their DC from schools, nurseries etc because the landlord wants to sell up. I grew up in a council house. My parents could not be kicked out as long as they paid their rent and looked after the property. They could decorate it how they liked.

Leaving people in very insecure housing and health situations and ignoring their employment and women’s safety concerns is not going to encourage faith in the mainstream parties.

Unfettered global oligarchy created increased inequality and poverty at the very bottom of the totem pole. The pandemic accelerated this effect, both because it is now causing increased and unending disability, with health declining across the population, and also because of economic disruption. Increased poverty means increased support for the far right, because those in power encourage far-right explanations for the poor conditions inflicted on the masses ("these foreigners are stealing your money!") to divert scrutiny from themselves. The masses buy it because they are hungry, and nobody is thinking straight when they're hungry.

In a nutshell it's about empty bellies. Everything in politics is always about empty bellies. We can discuss philosophy, ideologies and theories until the cows come home, but stuff like culture wars, outrage over "wokeism" and other such nonsense only becomes important enough when people are hungry and therefore already inclined to become angry. When leaders fail, it's usually because they have starved their people too much. The average person doesn't need intellectual freedom.

Ultimately, there is no left and right in politics at the moment because even the "left" don't seem concerned enough with economic inequality. Instead, they worry about language, diversity quotas, feelings and other superfluous things.

(Sorry if someone already posted this)

For my British and European friends who are "shocked" and "surprised", here are 10 reasons you didn't see this coming:

1. Americans love their country and want it to be the best in the world. America is a nation of people who conquered a continent. They love strength. They love winning. Any leader who appeals to that has an automatic advantage.

1. Unlike Europeans, Americans have not accepted managed decline. They don't have Net Zero here, they believe in producing their own energy and making it as cheap as possible because they know that their prosperity depends on it.

1. Prices for most basic goods in the US have increased rapidly and are sky high. What the official statistics say about inflation and the reality of people's lives are not the same.

1. Unlike you, Americans do not believe in socialism. They believe in meritocracy. They don't care about the super rich being super rich because they know that they live in a country where being super rich is available to anyone with the talent and drive to make it. They don't resent success, they celebrate it.

1. Americans are the most pro-immigration people in the world. Read that again. Seriously, read it again. Americans love an immigrant success story. They want more talented immigrants to come to America. But they refuse to accept people coming illegally. They believe in having a border.

1. Americans are sensitive about racial issues and their country's imperfect history. They believe that those who are disadvantaged by the circumstances of their birth should be given the opportunity to succeed. What they reject, however, is the idea that in order to address the errors of the past new errors must be made. DEI is racist. They know it and they reject it precisely because they are not racist.

1. Americans are the most philosemitic nation on earth. October 7 and the pro-Hamas left's reaction shocked them to their very core because, among other things, they remember what 9/11 was like and they know jihad when they see it.

1. Americans are extremely practical people. They care about what works, not what sounds good. In Europe, we produce great writers and intellectuals. In America they produce (and attract) great engineers, businessmen and investors. Because of this, they care less about Trump's rhetoric than you do and more about his policies than you do.

1. Americans are deeply optimistic people. They hate negativity. The woke view of American history as a series of evils for which they must eternally apologise is utterly abhorrent to them. They believe in moving forward together, not endlessly obsessing about the past.

10. America is a country whose founding story is one of resistance to government overreach. They loathe unnecessary restrictions, regulations and control. They understand that freedom comes with the price of self-reliance and they pay it gladly.

— Konstantin Kisin

Really? He's only got 4 million more votes than her. It's 51:48. Not really the landslide he's touting it to be.

I always knew it.

America would rather have anyone in the White House than a woman. And a black woman to boot.

"Woke" is dead and dying. The Left don't like that, so anyone who is speaks up questioning the new doctrines is shouted down. Then after they have finished the shouting and denigration, they remove their hearing aids and go la la la la.

I'm partially deaf myself and use aids, but that's the result of illness not ignorance, intolerance and superiority.

And you highlight the problems with the discussion:

”poor wickle second home owners”
”don’t give a shit about the wealthy having to pay VAT”
Tiny violin emoji

you have completely dismissed problems experienced by others - so why on earth would you expect them to give a shit about anything impacting you?

Running/funding are not the same as those who dictate the professional culture.

But an extra 1 million people have to live somewhere. They need a roof over their heads, we didn't just have extra homes doing nothing. Neither were there empty classrooms waiting for their children. Or accredited interpreters to assist when those people needed to access public services. Do you know how much an interpreter costs? And relying on a friend of the customer causes all sorts of issues, including the fact that there is no legal redress if they don't actually interpret, but add their own take on the situation.
So, yes, it does cause issues,not least the stress on budgets.

I agree, but I just think this is the reason for a lot of the animosity.

Overpopulation, overconsumption of everything including information, and a fight over resources.

An indirect consequence of mass migration is "white flight" which knocks onto house prices. But also it has always been the case that when humans struggle they look after "their own" and to do so they turn on "outsiders".

The progressive left weren’t running the NHS in those days.

People are sick of the uncontrolled mass immigration?

This is stupid to me and I am a financially struggling single parent. Immigrants aren't taking anything from me.

It's because we have an economic system in the west that needs constant growth, profit margins need to get bigger each year, "productivity" needs to constantly increase. This has allowed large multinational companies to accumulate more and more wealth whilst the people at the bottom have to work longer and longer with less wealth to keep the system going, alongside our low fertility rates (the economic system is a large contributory factor to the low fertility rates) the only way this can keep on going is by having large amounts of immigration.
If the economic system breaks down, then no more pensions, public services etc,
Labour/democrats are trying to keep the system going for as long as they can because they don't want to stand up to the large multinationals, so they just get us into more and more debt allowing the disparity between the rich and the poor to get bigger and bigger.
Reform/Trump just lie to the public by saying they that they will get rid of immigration, make everyone wealthy etc which they can't as they would have to change the whole system, which their very wealthy backers (Elon mush etc) won't allow them do to
The only way out of this mess is a globalised approach to put in place an economic system that is more balanced for everyone, but that will require a huge political consensus and brave/intelligent politicians which we don't have.

Absolutely this

Plus the current trend for the populist right wing to promise the moon on a stick and then darvo when it doesn't appear (we would have made you richer if it wasn't for the EU/immigrants/human rights lawyers etc etc).

The left seems caught in a bind of just about having enough integrity not to lie outright about what they can deliver, which tends to look crap and depressing compared to said moon-on-stick.

Comforting, simple lies are much easier to sell than complex and difficult truths.

*Edited because I wrote pies not lies. I think my vote could definitely be bought for a comforting pie today.

I live on a vast council estate that would be described as disadvantaged and it seems that as soon as a flat becomes empty an immigrant family is allocated it. I am now the only English speaker and person working in both my block and the one next door - each block containing 4 flats. That means 7 flats in the last 18 months have been given to non-working, non English speaking people. Except for 1 flat, I have only met the male occupiers as their wives stay inside with the curtains drawn. Whether anyone likes it or not, this is going to be divisive. Unless you happen to live in a disadvantaged area and find that your neighbours are rapidly becoming non working, non English speakers, I don't think you can possibly criticise those who feel concerned.

A lot of people struggle financially now.
Even people on good salaries.

When human beings struggle financially, they're not welcoming to outsiders/immigrants as they feel they have to compete more for already limited resources.

Entirely agree.

Wanting to talk about immigration doesn't make a person a bigot. You see, this is the issue, isn't it? Wanting to express a concern, makes her a bigot. So we don't discuss issues and we end up with people voting for parties that won't meet your approval.
BTW Blair and Brown are examples of not understanding how working class people do things. When they agreed that people from the A8 countries could freely come to the UK and immediately access all services, they thought the vast majority would be middle class professionals. They didn't expect goodness knows how many to be unskilled, or low skilled, with no functioning English. They couldn't comprehend that many saw it as an opportunity when they had little to offer. And many places found huge numbers who needed to be housed by local authorities, and who were claiming benefits rather than being self sufficient. Neither did they think that many were actually criminals who saw the chance to get away.
Before you tell me I'm talking rubbish, I dealt with many who were just that.
Low skills, no English comprehension, and in many cases with a criminal record.
It's not being a bigot to accept that mistakes were made and those mistakes were detrimental to those already in the UK.
Edited to say, the projection was 15, 000 would come from the A8 countries. Over 1 million actually came. Only 3 countries allowed freedom of movement, the UK, Sweden and Ireland.

Yeah, well you know what? I live in an area where an entire generation of young people are unable to buy a home where they grew up. Because of second homes. Not a bunch of imaginary evil immigrants, but because of wealthy mostly British mostly white people destroying their communities and culture. So excuse me if I don't give a shit about the poor wickle second home owners having to pay a tiny bit more tax.

And while my own SEN child is attending a state school- and being poor I don't have a hope in hell of him ever going private- I don't give much of a shit about the wealthy having to pay VAT on their private schools to fund everyone else's education either. 🎻

It was a mistake for Brown to say it, but she was, in fact, a bigot.