Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes has travelled the world looking for clues to how the US came to elect Donald Trump and he found parallels everywhere. But is there a way of stopping it from happening again?
When Donald Trump won the US election in 2016 it upturned the assumptions of many in America about who was electable to the highest office in the land. It seemed obvious to many that Trump would lose to Hillary Clinton and yet he won a stunning victory.
For the former Obama aide Ben Rhodes it was a moment to take stock and search for clues as to how it could have happened. He tells Anushka Asthana that his quest took him around the world to countries that had elected their own ‘strongman’ leaders. He asks what lessons can be learned to avoid another Trump-style presidency?
