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The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again
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Something is happening among America’s allies, and it’s a tremendous relief. For some years now, we’ve seen the MAGA-infused global right gaining a foothold amongst western democracies, largely driven by the same demagogic, nationalist, pseudo-populism that has fueled Donald Trump’s dominance on the American right.
Some countries like Hungary have served as a sort of experiment for the kind of post-democratic autocracies dreamt of by the modern right wing in which government co-opts, intimidates and de-legitimizes the political opposition to create an authoritarianism that dominates the culture and the politics without a lot of overt violence.
But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.
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He only got reelected because Democrats seemed to care about twenty other things more than the working class. If they can’t figure that out things are only going to get worse. They’ll probably get worse no matter what, the only question is who people will blame. It should be the elite class but they’ll blame poor voters on the other team and nonvoters instead.
I think US commentators make far too much of Trump and US political influence on the world. It exists but we all have our own cultures, political systems etc out here and we proudly do our own thing. The arrogance of people on all sides of US politics who think an election result on the other side of a world is a reflection of their own domestic politics is incredible.
It would be convenient if the rest of the world could fix a broken US democracy but it is a fantasy. US citizens need to address their problems through struggle and resistance. Their current problems runs very deep in their society and isn’t simply an international fashion trend.
If you check the polls, nothing changed in Australia to justify the rapid drop of the right wing, except Trump.
Lieberals were in front for a long time, and then trump started his bullshit and Labor came from behind and soared into victory.
Mate.
The Liberals lost so hard 2 elections ago that they were never going to win despite what any opinion poll may have said. Dutton ran on a platform of nothing, and never had one positive public moment. The party has been running around like a headless chook and will continue to do so.
The Libs lost because of Dutton, not because of Trump.
I mean the world can fix a broken US democracy by boycotting the US entirely on all fronts until a democratic country emerges.
This will take a while though as we have seen with South Africa.
Doubt it would play out that way in the US. They’re much more likely to take military action when the world cuts them out since making weapons is what made them rich and you can’t keep making weapons without using or selling them.
And yet I keep seeing Trump’s name and picture next to German words I can’t read here… curious.
I’m astounded that Theresa May wasn’t the calling that unrestricted liberal economics (aka trickle down) is a fairytale.
And that economic stability is held by the safety net the lower class makes use of and the middle class falls back to. (Social economics)
Here in Canada the last-minute swing from Conservative to Liberal was definitely a response to Trump, particularly to his repeated threats to take over our country.
Worldwide it may be more that what causes the rise of fascism in the USA also causes it worldwide - and sometimes this is an actual network of wealthy right-wing organizations and nation states working to promote it through propaganda and funding.
Australia is in a very different position to Canada geographically and strategically. Our politics can be almost as different as our climate.
Australia’s major party primary vote has been declining for ages. In the most recent Canadian election the opposite happened and the major parties gained votes at the expense of the smaller parties. In Canada both the Libs and Conservatives increased their vote share. Lets repeat that, the Conservatives in Canada, despite existential threats from Trump to annex and bankrupt their country increased their votes while the mainstream conservative party in Australia declined in vote share despite Trump policies having less direct impact here than practically anywhere else. Carney limped home with minority government while Albo thumped the conservatives with a huge majority. We are not the same. Not even close.
In Australia Labor had a relatively modest increase while the Liberals lost a few percent. The Green vote barely changed but independents and smaller populist parties did ok including One Nation which had a modest increase in votes. Nothing like Canada.
I think the consensus from most domestic commentators is that the Liberals in Australia ran a poor campaign, their policies failed to impress swing voters in marginals struggling with cost of living and looking for an alternative and Labor campaigned better than expected.
Great news for ‘the rest of the world’ but I’d prefer not to deal with this shit here for 4 years as well god dammit.
That demotivator about your role in life serving as a teachable moment to others bites hard
That might be the silver lining to all this
in the future the trope is going to be “I’m going back in time to k— Tr–p” and everyone has to stop them because it would mean the great global awakening would never happen
Something, something, Dune.
Salon, huffpo, msnbc ffs. These are the hopium sites favored by the beaten left, because actual corporate journalism collapsed under it’s own ignorance and greed a long time ago.
The NYT will trot out a hopium piece every once in awhile like rainbow-flagging-the-logo for Pride month, but it’s all clickbait.
Who are you going to vote for in the midterms? The left needs to get its shit together. Propaganda, corruption, and blatant lies are kicking our ass.
The problem is that we don’t have a left party; the closest are the Democrats and they’re Republicans in all but name.
I don’t buy that. I think there are a number of old corporate Dems who need to get the boot. But that’s all up to the Democratic voters to do.
It’s not that complicated in principle, it’s just that complicated once one is out in the real world.
Copium is my preferred term.
The more cynical cousin of hopium.
But is it really?
Celebrating prematurely. The UK is about to go fascist, Germany is teetering on the brink, and Canada only just dodged a bullet for now.
We don’t have a general election for another 4 years in the UK.
Reform won some council seats and are already having issues.
The fact that they’re getting this far bothers me though.
Absolutely, but people believe the hype, just like they did when Farage was an MEP despite him effecting no positive changes.
With social media and the internet nowadays it’s easy to appeal to a disaffected part of the voting populace with lies and half truths.
What? No. All our (Canadian) fascists are gonna separate and join the US. Then we’ll be a fascist-free country!
Trade Alberta for the Western and Northeastern states
Yes but not Calgary or Edmonton, nor Lake Louise, nor Banff, or any of the other mountain resort towns! Plus we keep the full stretch of the trans Canada highway and all the major railways.
I’m happy with expelling Albertans for being secessionists but Canada is keeping the oil.
Yes. This didn’t happen in the UK because, instead of standing up to Trumpism, Starmer is tacking to the far-right.
And no mention of Italy?
Italy has always been a joke, Hungary too
Greece was coming frighteningly close to nazism a few years back
It’s so frustrating to see
Yes, Italy, Hungary and others are already well down the fascist path.
Romania just went fascist. Romania’s current election front-runner is a fascist. Austria is struggling not to be wholly under the far right’s control, depending on a coalition to hold them off. The far right has significant power in the governments of Slovakia, Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. Portugal and Belgium are also dealing with surging far right movements.It’s absurd to conclude it’s over because centrism squeaked through in Canada and Australia. It’s like everyone relaxing in 2020 because the US public were sure to see sense under Biden.
Wait… I thought the Romanian guy only won like 20ish percent in the first round? Did they have the second round already?
You’re right. Sorry for that inaccuracy. I updated my comment.
No worries! I just thought I might have missed something
And Portugal overthrew fascism in the 1970s, too…
I heard that Poland is also cheering for some MAGA guy in the next election… Troubling times ahead.
For Romania, there might still be a chance in the run-off. However, the difference between the two candidates was quite large (20% difference; 1.8 million votes). Similarly, the other candidates seemed to have voters that would rather vote for the nazi. Most likely all hope is lost, but that 1% chance is still there.
The UK is hardly about to go fascist. Labour recently won power and there won’t be a national election for years. There were smaller council elections recently and Reform won a few seats, but so did the Greens and Lib Dems. Basically, there were some anti-establishment votes.
East Germany voted AfD, but the rest of the country defeated that.
Canada voted Liberal despite a strong anti-establishment sentiment. It’s likely that eventually it will flip back conservative. But, there’s a chance that before that happens, the chaos of Trumpism will make the conservatives in Canada try to become an adult, respectable party rather than Maple MAGA.
The UK is batshit insane and will be for some time.
Australia breaking from the murdoch triad is a big one.
The UK is a bit away from “about to go fascist”
Nigel (Nazi-youth-song-singing, frequent RT guest apologist for Putin & emphatic volunteer for 2nd in line of any future human trumpepede) Farage is as close to actual power as he’s ever been—which is not at all.
His party’s existence actually potentially helps more reasonable parties because he is splitting the right wing vote
Labour are going to have to come up with something soon though or things could go bad; I get it’s their first year and they’re doing unpopular things early so they’re not fresh for next election, but they’re really unpopular right now.
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It’s a Facebook link… maybe at least give a blurb on why I should click it.
Like bacteria in a jar. They grow, then become toxic, then die off.
… Canada only just dodged a bullet for now
By 3 points; less than a basketball goal
And don’t forget that Italy, Poland and Hungary are already there and we’re about to invade the few countries that went left.
Poland actually got rid of their right wing government in the last election in 2023 and are hopefully dumping the president who’s been blocking reform. It can be done.
Poland is not out of the woods yet though
By 3 points; less than a basketball goal
Is there some weird form of Canadian basketball out there where this statement makes sense?
Nope.
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*Looks at my fellow Brits*
AFD is the biggest party in Germany. National Rally is the biggest party in France. Brothers of Italy is the ruling party in Italy. Reform UK has won a lot of local elections this year.
And as far as I know, the pro-Russian far-right party just won the presidential election in Romania by a large margin.
Support for right-wing parties is larger among young people than among older generations.
I don’t think Trump has postponed Europe’s path toward authoritarian antiglobalism in a meaningful way. I am frustrated about the present situation, and pessimistic about the future.
I’m not even sure what words to use to describe how I feel about those numbers here in Germany. The only way I can see to get out of this is if Trump and his government quickly(!!) “destroy” the US in a major and visible way.
The still ongoing tariff nonsense is one way, but it is not severe enough and Europeans aren’t connecting the dots between one incompetent populist (Trump) and the populists they have at home.
I’ve been hearing about (soon-to-be, if Trump doesn’t back down) empty ports, which may lead to empty shelves in supermarkets. If this becomes big enough that social media is full of people showing empty local supermarkets and the regular media has no choice in turning this into a big story, we might have a chance.
Not that I have any real hope this is would actually change anything …
They will certainly grow if (US) social media keeps dominating voters’ lives. For all the other factors and opposition screw ups, that’s the engine driving their rise.
But yeah, IDK what Salon is on about.
You’re welcome rest of the world. Now be nice to those of us who have to suffer another 4 years.
As long as you voted against him, yes.
If someone said “oh they’re both the same” or “Kamala didn’t make her position clear enough on ______” or any of the other excuses, they need to bear the full brunt of their (in)decision.
I’ve zero sympathy for those fools.
full brunt of their
(in)decisionstupidity.Fixed it. :3
Very right wing of you to have no sympathy for people born less intelligent than you. Fools should not be blamed. A system that allows fools to be swayed and to be the deciding factor is where the blame should go.
I don’t know. Unintelligent or even uneducated is easy to label the Maga crowd, and certainly many of them deserve that. But not all of them. I know a few who are well educated but just seem racist or 'i got mine" types.
That’s really the crux. There are two trump voters: There are 1) the easily swayed, misled, gullible, uninformed, and other adjectives that imply they are just not fully aware of what is going on; and then 2) the evil assholes who know fully that they are breaking things because they stand to profit from the breakage.
Class 1 deserves our compassion, and should be helped to understand why their choices hurt themselves and society.
Class 2 needs to be evicted from this reality.
Yes there are woefully evil regardless of education. Even if you tried to nurture them with better ideas they’d reject it.
Incels come to mind.
Even the dumbest person knows how to be kind to others. You don’t have to be smart to not want to wish ill upon others.
People vote for Trump purely because they want others to suffer more than they do. If you vote for someone who wants to deport “brown people” then you know fully he won’t be kind to them. If you vote for someone who wants to punish others for doing trade then you know fully well people will suffer. If you think being gay, trans or whatever is a disease and people should be punished for it then there is something very wrong with you.
I indeed have no sympathy for people who voted for Trump. If you voted for him you’re an asshole and just want people to suffer.
The trump voters I know of aren’t really people who want others to suffer. I am sure there are plenty who do of course. But ask why. The answer is that they have been fooled into thinking other people are effectively attacking thier way of life. Or that the people suffering are murderers and rapists. They simply don’t have the mental abilities to realize they have been fooled.
The incels had a choice to listen to reason. They went out of their way to bully. Many ppl vulnerable got affected by this unfairly.
That’s not a stupidity that needs an advocate.
Fools should not be blamed. A system that allows fools to be swayed […bad grammar…] is where the blame should go.
While the system bears its share of blame, it is the unquestioning enablers, those who readily consume its dictates, who breathe life into its flaws. Just as tolerance cannot survive by tolerating intolerance, wisdom cannot flourish when we indulge foolishness. To dismantle a flawed system, we must first challenge those who sustain it.
I agree that “wisdom cannot flourish when we indulge foolishness.” So we need to change the system so that it does not indulge foolishness.
Blaming the system is a cop out. It didn’t happen before, because the electorate held their representatives to some kind of standard. Now, your representatives tell you what to think and y’all just nod your heads like lambs to the slaughter
Social media really changed the playing field. It is much easier to inundate people with messaging and such that will fool a much greater part of the population. Yet the system hasn’t adjusted.
both parties are the same in many ways doesn’t mean I voted for trump I voted Harris. I knew Trump’s hate was worse than the Dems obliviousness
Be nice to the people threatening to annex and bomb an ally… ? you be nice first.
Can we sequester him? In the dirt, please?
We might actually get world peace, as for peace in America?…
Hopefully, Trump and his pals cause other nations to say “The Heritage Foundation is a terrorist organization.” Just because Heritage doesn’t directly kill people, doesn’t change the fact that they will dismantle the world’s universal healthcare, food standards, and more just to make some rich person feel good.
