A standing ovation was given to Donald Trump, who accepted the Republican nomination for President of the United States.

In his speech, in addition to the allegation of lying to the Democratic Party, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton, guilty of not fully understanding the Islamic terrorism threat.

Then, he proposed his solution to this problem, namely preventing migrants from countries involved in Islamic terrorism, such as Syria, from entering the United States.

Donald Trump has proven to be a real populist. In his words, Democrats are lying on everything, while Republicans are always saying the truth; there is a battle between good and evil. Concretely, this is nothing but an emotional oversimplification of reality.

The accusation of lying against a whole party is serious and should be questioned. When did the Democratic Party say something untrue? And who lied in particular? If answers are not provided to these questions, his words are nothing but dangerous demagoguery to poison the political atmosphere.

Donald Trump is a true populist because he proposes simple solutions to complex issues. How will he expel all Muslims from the US? What does suspending immigration from countries involved in terrorism mean? Which countries can be considered as involved in terrorism, and in what capacity?

So far, it is well-known that Saudi Arabia is financing Islamic terrorism. Is Donald Trump ready to sever the US diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia?

Three are countries accused of fomenting terrorism, namely Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. There was no real terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan before the two brutal and useless wars lead by President Bush, who created nothing but troubles. Now the United States are not able to find a way out.

After Gaddafi was overthrown by a kind of coup organised by France and Great Britain with the US blessing, Libya is a country that has simply fallen apart. Terrorism had nothing to do with it. The main interest was only Libya’s oil and the coup was a mean to undermine Italy as Libya’s main trading partner in this sector.

As for Russia, Donald Trump says that he would not automatically act in defence of Baltic States if they were under attack. He would react only after having assessed the contribution of these countries to NATO.

Considering that military interventions in defence of invaded countries should be approved by the UN this is a rather peculiar way of conceiving international treaties. Besides, how much should a contribution be in order to get NATO’s protection?

The truth is that Donald Trump is as undemocratic and autocratic as Putin is. Furthermore, just to confirm his unfamiliarity with democracy, Trump has said he will not make pressure against countries like Turkey, which are now purging political opponents or reducing civil rights movement. It is evident that Donald Trump envies the rough and hasty methods used by Erdogan to get rid of his opponents.

Donald Trump also said that the United States must first solve its own home issues before giving lessons to others. This statement could be acceptable. Yet, immediately after it, Trump praised Erdogan and admired the way he overturned the attempted coup.

For a second, let’s try to imagine a world headed by people such as Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, while the European Union is overwhelmed by populism. This new perspective is quite worrying, isn’t?

Massimo Turci