Donald Trump's victory is the triumph of a populism cimented on fake news and misinformation, okay, fine. Citizens have been compelled by a simple and effective tale, able to appeal to their fears and resentments. But the problem isn't as much Trump winning the elections, but instead the progressive or leftist or what you might call it ideology, having long since lost their way.

Traditional progressivism has become complacent and abstract. The causes that it defends--which albeit important, sometimes feel distant from the real problems of the average citizen--have transformed its discourse into a language foreign to the working class. While Trump exploits economical discontent, the left speaks of inclusive language, extreme environmentalism or political correctness, and disengages itself from the battles that can really change the lives of those who cannot make ends meet.

Who does the left represent nowadays? In many cases, a cultural elite who lives in prosperous neighbourhoods and says their opinion from the comfort of not knowing the daily hardships of the workers. The priorities of the left have moved: now they argue about if bottle caps should be stuck to the bottle or about using gender neutral terms, while those who live on the margin only want to put some food on their table. They speak of historic memory, of respecting the panda bear or of the importance of recycling; meanwhile, the worker who lacks insurance or a decent salary asks themself how these causes even represent them. What is nowadays called "left" is in the hands of a posh middle class who's so pleased to meet each other, capable of judging from the watchtower of their electric vehicle those who do not recognize their moral superiority... Today the left is a cumulus of contradictions, of making a good impression on others, of yoga on a sunset while injecting quinoa into their veins... Their message is designed so that only them will hear it... they do not manage to understand that some people might like bull fighting and can also be good people... they've forgotten about "I am myself and my circumstances".

And the thing is that Trump and other populist leaders aren't the people behind such discontent, but the people who benefit from it. Socialdemocracy lost credibility long ago: the Clinton, the Obama, Felipe González and other historic leaders who truly represented the people now enjoy the privileges of the financial elites who they used to question. This gentrified progressivism has stopped seriously fighting against inequalities and has allowed the system to keep benefiting the same people it always has, alienating therefore the working class who now prefers to look towards authoritarianism, searching in it the answers that democratic institutions haven't been able to give them.

If today the ultraconservative right can speak of "rescuing the people" without sounding like a joke, it's because the left stopped doing their purpose. It doesn't matter that he's racist, xenophobe or authoritarian, Trump offers them a promise, however empty it might be, of returning a decent life to them and it's many people who believe him... It's not okay to say that the voters are stupid, assholes, illiterate, uninformed or mislead... or that they're all fascists... No, that's looking at the fingers that points at a discontent each time more widespread. It's not that they believe Trump, it's that most do not believe in anyone at this point.

The left has slowly diminished into a bureocratic and rigid tone, full of meticulously elaborated terms that don't offend anyone, to the point they've lost the ability to speak first hand with people. In its intent to not harm any sensibilities, it has lost its authenticity. The left came out of the factories, of the working class neighbourhoods, of the fight between social classes, of marginality, to turn its speeches into nonsense aimed at pseudo-hippy university students, middle class culture vultures and prophets who say they defend the environment while showering with hot water and traveling from conference to conference in planes. If they went to a slum they would notice that only they are interested in all that bullshit.