Gleb Kuznetsov: “There are three popular types of politicians left in the world”

“I’ve been thinking for the last few days that there are three popular types of politicians left in the world. The cantankerous old man, the head teacher and the young scoundrel. Once-used “excellent boys” who with age turned into “elderly bureaucrats” and monopolized what then the so-called civilized world was ordered to live a long time. By the way, this is where most of the image problems of our so-called young technocrats lie - the classic “excellent” type - good for public service, but difficult for modern politics,” - the political scientist writes on his Facebook page.

"So, the head teacher. Merkel, May, Clinton, most of the Scandinavian women leaders. But not only women, by the way. Rajoy from Spain is a real head teacher. Just like many other respected world politicians - men. Like the Argentinean Macri or Fillon.

Head teachers do not and cannot evoke sincere sympathy. Hand on heart, they are disgusting. But they - here we must give them credit - are excellent political managers. And there is something about them that makes even inveterate hooligans obey them. This is not fear. It’s more of a feeling that this (this) one, whatever they may be, nevertheless has the right to command you. (“Well, who?”) You will obey this boring woman and even vote for her. She - this aunt - looks like a boss. It exudes reliability. So to hell with it. Let him command. But we still won’t stop smoking behind the school. Because we are not afraid of this death even once. Let him command. Someone must scare the teachers.

The head teacher enters into a relationship between educator and educated with the intimidated and increasingly infantilized electorate (in fact, the infantilization of voters is the secret of the success of all three types, some “command”, others “entertain”, others portray a gradually degrading father).

The young scoundrel is an operetta type. This man is a product of “Marvel politics” - politics as a show that is interesting to watch, which seems to unfold in a reality similar to ours, but has nothing to do with us. Macron, Renzi, leaders of the Spanish Podemos and the Portuguese Left Bloc, Tsipras. The hereditary Canadian Prime Minister is Trudeau. In fact, there are a lot of them, and, in fact, it was primarily the “excellent students” who became their victims - see the French case. Cynics with a great sense of timing. They are similar in style to either Tony Stark or Captain America, depending on whether they are conventionally “right” or conventionally “leftist”. If the head teachers are commodity administrators, then the “scumbags” - that’s what we’ll call them - are sales people.

And my favorite type. A cantankerous old man. Trump, Sanders, Corbyn, Duterte, Mélenchon, there are also a lot of them. The cantankerous old man is the father. Reasoner, conservative, brawler. His personality was formed in the 60s and 70s. And since then it has remained unchanged. For him, new technologies are not a “change in lifestyle,” but a set of ways to look like you did at 50 at 70, and quickly convey your thoughts - which have remained unchanged since 1970 - to young people. By the way, if the middle generation - the generation of children like that - looks at them with restraint, our parents drank a lot of our blood, then those for whom they are grandfathers dote on them. Perceiving the intellectual refinement of 30-40 years ago, at best, as a “new word” and “the whole truth.” Perhaps taking it fairly. The new is the well-forgotten.

In a store where the merchandiser is the “head teacher” and the “seller” is a young scoundrel, the “old man” is a scandalous buyer. “The hell are you sculpting for us here, mother. How is it that one item costs three rubles, and three with a “discount” cost ten. Mother. Guys, they have completely gone crazy here. At my age, in our area, they would have been put on a pen, mother. But this one’s ass is really okay - look at it, guys.” The guys stare and rejoice. It seemed to them that this was not possible in politics, but it turns out that it is possible!

The elections in the States - when two cantankerous old men beat the head teacher to pieces, and excellent students and bureaucrats were left out of the game - captures the trend. The French elections, which gave us “a young scoundrel in a relationship with the head teacher,” are successfully developing it. The world of the young, the world of childhood, allows only relationships whose models are rooted in that very childhood. So far, only successful “mothers” and “bully classmates” are nowhere to be seen. But I think they can advance the described models in the future."