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The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again

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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[-] Bob@feddit.org 18 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Someone8765210932@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago

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 ...

[-] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] ssfckdt 16 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

You're welcome rest of the world. Now be nice to those of us who have to suffer another 4 years.

[-] aramova@infosec.pub 22 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] thedruid@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

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

[-] jhymesba@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

full brunt of their ~~(in)decision~~stupidity.

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.

[-] Trihilis@ani.social 7 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

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.

[-] aramova@infosec.pub 7 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

I agree that "wisdom cannot flourish when we indulge foolishness." So we need to change the system so that it does not indulge foolishness.

[-] Kage520@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] korazail@lemmy.myserv.one 3 points 1 day ago

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.

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[-] Smoogs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

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.

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[-] Smoogs@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Be nice to the people threatening to annex and bomb an ally... ? you be nice first.

[-] Bosht@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Taleya@aussie.zone 4 points 1 day ago

That demotivator about your role in life serving as a teachable moment to others bites hard

[-] Kalysta@lemm.ee 32 points 1 day ago

Wish we could have done this before the fucker was elected.

[-] drcabbage@lemmy.ml 25 points 1 day ago

Most people have to learn the hard way. They are dumb like that.

[-] dryfter@lemm.ee 5 points 1 day ago

I always say I have to be hit over the head with a frying pan to learn my lesson, but jesus I could tell Trump was not good for America when he started running for his first term.

And now I’ll suffer for it because I’m part of the “parasite” class.

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[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 19 points 1 day ago

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.

[-] Monstrosity@lemm.ee 108 points 1 day ago

Fascism. It's called Fascism, not, "Trumpism."

So fucking stupid.

[-] mriswith@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago

At this point, if a news outlet or politician refuse to call it what it is, I assume they actually approve.

So far it's most of them across the world.

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[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 266 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Celebrating prematurely. The UK is about to go fascist, Germany is teetering on the brink, and Canada only just dodged a bullet for now.

[-] Xaphanos@lemmy.world 106 points 2 days ago
[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 115 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] compostgoblin@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 day ago

Wait… I thought the Romanian guy only won like 20ish percent in the first round? Did they have the second round already?

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[-] Kinperor@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

I think that - on a global scale - a fair amount of people has cause to be grateful to Trump. Whether it's intended or not, he's tearing down the current geopolitical statu quo and waking up people politically.

On the flipside, I do worry that we narrowly avoided the fire in order to stay in the pan, to subvert the old saying. Over in Canada, we reelected a party that has a lot of flaws, and that their defining benefit is "isn't the conservative right". I'm glad we avoided a conservative sweep, but let's not pretend the shady opposition is significantly better.

[-] RizzoTheSmall@lemm.ee 21 points 1 day ago

I can't speak for all of us, but I don't think "the world" at large ever supported "Trumpism" and we largely have always thought him to be a gigantic tit and those who voted him into office TWICE to be idiotic or miseducated.

[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If you replace "Trumpism" with "fascism", it has clearly been on the rise all around the world for a decade or so now, and it's taking over more and more countries all the time. However it's far from clear that we've reached any kind of turning point where fascism starts to become less popular worldwide, just because of some fairly limp election results in Canada and Australia.

[-] Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I feel it's more like a fluke than a rule. We all just got lucky. It's not like any of us are doing anything to prepare for that next election cycle. But I guarantee you that they are.

I seriously still see mailboxes in my neighborhood with flyers about conservative. They treated the election like they were Punk kids promoting their favorite band around town. They mobilized in ways the left only dream of and they didn't vaporize when they lost. They will come back more determined

[-] hperrin@lemmy.ca 51 points 2 days ago

I honestly don’t see a way out of this other than a war against the fascists. Something like the American civil war where the racists got their asses thoroughly beaten, or WWII, where the Nazis got absolutely crushed. I feel like it’s just one of those things that pops up once in a while. Basically, fascists are the herpes of society.

[-] DarkGamer@fedia.io 42 points 2 days ago

This American situation is partly the long tail of the failure of reconstruction; Confederates got their asses handed to them but they were never properly removed from power. Now the racists are once again in charge, their monuments still stand, their flag is still flown, and the southern strategy is central to their political power.

Compare this to Germany, who stripped Nazis from power, outlawed their symbols, and have guard rails to prevent fascist movements from rising again. (They are now being used against AfD.)

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[-] jabeez@lemmy.today 9 points 1 day ago

And has the world said thank you, even once?

[-] shirro@aussie.zone 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] NIB@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago

If you check the polls, nothing changed in Australia to justify the rapid drop of the right wing, except Trump.

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[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] shirro@aussie.zone 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

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.

[-] Saleh@feddit.org 20 points 1 day ago

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.

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[-] ceenote@lemmy.world 64 points 2 days ago

As long as neoliberals are the only alternative, fascism will always come back.

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[-] ButteryNickel@lemmy.wtf 59 points 2 days ago

Better late than never I suppose. Congrats everyone else.

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this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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