Trump, turbulence, territory

Two years into the Trump administration there remains heated discussion of what exactly his presidency means for contemporary political trends. Much of this debate has focused on two topics in particular: right wing populism and the return of authoritarian forms of politics associated with the early twentieth century. Here commentators have returned to older themes about the nexus between personality and politics. Some of this discussion has centered on the President's psychological state and his fitness for office, while another strand of popular commentary has focused on the mass psychology of Trump supporters. At the same time, there has been an ongoing critique of liberal-left fascination with authoritarianism in the Trump era. Here, the Trump presidency in the context of Northeast Asia and, in particular, the Korean peninsula is criticized.