Opinion: It would be foolish not to take Trump and his Weimar America seriously

Welcome to Weimar America: she is getting restless in beer halls. People are fed up with the usual policy. They want to speak frankly and directly. They want answers.

Welcome to a nation angry that two lost wars, with its hanging policy to the extreme, his mood vindictive, afflicted by real wage stagnation for decades for most people, tempted by a strong man who would keep all the Muslims out and the restoration promises of American greatness.

"We will be tough, thick and evil," says Donald Trump in response to the San Bernardino massacre. People vibrate. He calls for a "total and complete ban on the entry of Muslims in the United States." People vibrate. "The people want power," he says. People vibrate. Their numbers go up in the polls. Commentators, even former Republican political guru, Karl Rove shake their heads in disapproval.

Trump is a clown? No, it's not. He is real. And he found a way. It is foolish to not take it seriously.

An almost perfect storm for his agitation is on the United States. China is on the rise. The American power is declining. The tectonic plates of global security are moving. Afghanistan and Iraq were the tombs of glory. There is fear, after the deaths in California inspired by the Islamic State of an enemy.

For over a decade, American blood and treasure have been spent uselessly. President Obama claims that his strategy against Islamic jihadist terrorism, he often browns as "violent extremism" is working. There is little or no evidence of that.

Many Americans struggle to survive, with their wages not keeping pace with prices.

Then comes Trump, the guy full of energy. It promises the American resurgence, a reinvention, a renaissance. He insults Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, women. His words are hateful and vile. They exploit fear. They are the subject of horrified analysis. But they do not harm. He incites people. He says what others whisper. He steps across the touchy political correctness. It would be a tough match for Putin! And their numbers go up in the polls.

It would be foolish and dangerous not take it seriously. His bombastic style is in tune with America Weimar. The United States is not paying compensation, as Weimar Germany was after the First World War. There is no hyperinflation. But the Europeanization of American politics is unmistakable.

The United States, and Europe were shaken by terrorism of the Islamic state and not sure how to respond to the merchants of death with black flags. Its polarized politics seems broken. The right of Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen in France right overlap in terrorism issues and immigration. The American left, Bernie Sanders sounds like a European social democrat. But that's another story.

Le Pen is now a serious candidate for the French presidency in 2017. His strong result in the first round of regional elections was not repeated in the second round. She fell. But like Trump, it responds to the popular desire for an end to the usual business after two massacres in Paris this year, in which the Islamic State had paper. The three jihadists who killed 90 people who frequented the nightclub Bataclan on Friday night were French citizens who are believed to have trained in Syria.

"Islamic fundamentalism must be annihilated," said Le Pen. People vibrate. "France should ban Muslim organizations," she says. People vibrate. It must "expel foreigners who preach hatred in our country, as well as illegal immigrants who have nothing to do here." People vibrate.

There is no doubt that Le Pen is taken seriously in France. The watchword in Europe is surveillance. His entire reconstruction of post-war was based on the conviction that peace, integration, economic union and the state of social welfare were the best insurance against the return to power of the fascist right.

This conviction is shaken. The rise of the Islamic state and the West's inability to contain it directly lead to Islamophobia in which Trump and Le Pen successfully pass. It would be hard to imagine a more appropriate atmosphere to the politics of fear. Americans say they are more afraid of terrorism than at any time since the September 11 attacks.

"Whenever things get worse, I do best," says Trump. Is true. And things could get even worse.

The Europeanization of American politics is also the Europeanization of American political risk. The unthinkable happened in Europe. It is not impossible in the United States.

It would be wrong not to take Trump seriously. It would be irresponsible. Mean forget European history, where he gets the fascist example. None of America's policy of Weimar coming. The establishment looks tired. The establishment did not understand the shallow theater events of the contemporary world.

The Weimar Republic ended with the rise to power of a clown, a buffoon full of energy that screamed louder, a bully of beer halls, a racist and a bigot. He was an outsider with penchant for theatricality and pomp. He seduced the nation of Beethoven. He dragged the world into the hole with him.