ABSTRACT
The unexpected victories of Brexit and Donald Trump have led to an outpouring of liberal despair in the (social) media, which in its most extreme form illustrates profoundly illiberal and undemocratic features. This chapter distinguishes the five stages of liberal denial. The first stage of liberal denial has been ongoing for decades and reflects liberal confidence in itself and the political system. The second stage is that of liberal outrage, which has dominated 2016 around the world – but particularly within liberal circles in the UK and US, which were most shaken by the so-called populist surge. In the third stage of liberal denial they have won but we don't yet believe it. When it finally has sunk in that the election/referendum has been lost, liberals enter the fourth stage of denial, slowly but steadily accepting that (some of) the voters have actually rejected the liberal consensus.
