this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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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 16 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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 ...

[–] 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.

[–] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] aramova@infosec.pub 23 points 2 days ago (14 children)

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 1 day 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 2 days ago

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

Fixed it. :3

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[–] ssfckdt@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Monstrosity@lemm.ee 111 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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

So fucking stupid.

[–] mriswith@lemmy.world 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

I think a lot of them are afraid of being censored by the fascism for being alarmist. And then trying to hold onto a position of relative power via information is a tricky one, because you have to balance not only your tv station, but the backers, your audience, your managers, your coworkers, your position, your career, and also your life. These people are really REALLY risk adverse, for many different reasons. I'm not justifying it, but I'm imagining this is at least the intuition that some may be working through. Explanation is not justification.

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[–] doingthestuff@lemy.lol 9 points 1 day ago

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.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 276 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (19 children)

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 112 points 3 days ago (2 children)
[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 117 points 3 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (5 children)

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.

[–] andrew0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

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.

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[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 42 points 3 days ago (1 children)

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

[–] damdy@lemm.ee 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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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[–] Kalysta@lemm.ee 34 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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

[–] drcabbage@lemmy.ml 26 points 2 days ago (3 children)

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

[–] dryfter@lemm.ee 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 2 days 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.

[–] Bosht@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 2 days ago

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

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 11 points 2 days ago

*Looks at my fellow Brits*

[–] RizzoTheSmall@lemm.ee 22 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days 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.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (5 children)

Ironically the crazy economic shitstorm that Trump made might just be the wakeup call the world needed. Hopefully he doesn't get to reach the whole mass murder stage of his plans.

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[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 51 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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 44 points 2 days ago (5 children)

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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[–] ButteryNickel@lemmy.wtf 62 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Better late than never I suppose. Congrats everyone else.

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 38 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I'll take it. Really. It sucks for us. But if this is what it takes to get everyone else to kick this bullshit ass ideology and actually get on with progress over stagnation let's fucking go.

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[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 57 points 3 days ago (5 children)

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

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[–] shirro@aussie.zone 24 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (6 children)

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 22 points 2 days ago (2 children)

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

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[–] Saleh@feddit.org 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

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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[–] jabeez@lemmy.today 9 points 2 days ago

And has the world said thank you, even once?

[–] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 30 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's not Trumpism, it's fascism.

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[–] Kinperor@lemmy.ca 3 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.

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