Trump's presidency marks the defeat of elites

Elitism has self-value and appears to be eroding globally. There are some incidences which indicate that citizens mostly staying outside the big cities and away from a snobbish society are fast-becoming aware that they have a say in the system and, more importantly, that they have the capability to warrant change.

There are many theories floating, dissecting Donald Trump's victory in the race for the president of the United States.

By no means is Mr Trump a commoner, he was born with a silver spoon and has always been the part of the rich and famous circle. Yet, he succeeded in showing the dream of prosperity to the the lower middle and poor classes of the US. He did well because he challenged the existing format of political elitism.

He told the people how the US is wasting money owing to elitist possessiveness for global policing. His various arguments about people losing jobs to the outsiders, massive increase in illegal migration leading to crime, failed heath policies of the Obama administration et al convinced the voters that the so-called sophisticated class of politicians would not cater to their needs.

His argument that politicians are shying away from "calling spade a spade" to show progressiveness and secularism did strike a chord with the commoner. He was blunt in his assessment that Islamic terrorism is a threat and there is a need to check the inflow of the followers of the faith. Many differed with him and rightly so. However, some US citizens were definitely drawn to his appeal and his victory demonstrates that clearly. His views on climate change are retrogressive, but he understood that commoners usually do not take a so called "long view" and are mainly concerned about the immediate future.

He also succeeded in creating a notion that global warming is a Chinese hoax. Unfortunately, the power elite in Washington could not gauge the change on the ground. They probably depended more on inputs from the media without realising that today's media itself is caught in the elitist trap.

On the other hand, Trump succeeded in uncovering the pseudo-secularism and hypocrisy in the behaviour of a particular class of people managing politics for all these years.

Brexit could be another such phenomenon. It is essential to understand that there could be multiple reasons behind why Brexit happened or Trump won. Both the victories could be viewed as "51 per cent victories", indicating that 49 per cent of the population held a contrarian view.

This 51 per cent could be dissatisfied with the present power elites due to joblessness, economic insecurities, the natives feeling insecure on their own turf owing to the influx of people with differing religious identities, cultural differences and many other reasons. The United Kingdom getting out of the EU proved that the interest of the local people triumphed. Today, there is disaffection in other parts of Europe too. The current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is serving her third term and has been in office since 2005, appears to have lost her credibility owing to her emigrant policies.

Today, there is certain amount scepticism about globalisation. People from the Western world are realising that it is probably globalisation, which harms their interests. Trump's win gets attributed to right-wing philosophy, but is also important to note that elitism has no "belief" copyright and it could exist among groups supporting right as well as left-wing ideologies.

The elite theory is all about power relationships and explains how a small group of economic and power brokers controls nations. But, the victory of Trump and Brexit indicate that power arrogance, intelligence, skills, connections, resourcefulness, money and image do not always help to gain power.

Trump ran a very bad campaign, yet he won. In spite of running a vitriolic campaign, he remained connected to the concerns of the common American.

His opponent may have the "media" appeal, but he ensured that the "mass" appeal remained with him.

The elite theory opposes pluralism. It could be a tall order to say that Trump and pluralism go hand in hand, but he has given to a multitude of social groups a hope that their interests would be catered for. Hence, in a sense, both Brexit and the US elections have been more about pluralism defeating elitism.

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