President Donald Trump might be in a political hole, but his brand of conservative populist nationalism is flourishing across the globe.
Rising star Flávio Bolsonaro’s shock win in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election Sunday bolstered Trump’s project of remaking the Western Hemisphere in his political image.
Populist right-wingers are also on the march in Europe, fueled by the same failures of foreign leaders to tackle the cost of living and deliver promised change that are haunting US Republicans as the midterm elections draw near.
The radical anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) is catapulting into a national force as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government flatlines. France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen is leading the polls ahead of next year’s presidential election.
These parties aren’t Trump clones, and some predate his MAGA movement. But his rise to power and endurance inspire them. And the administration loudly supports its nationalist brethren threatening to topple the centrist European leaders the president meets at international summits.
Many far-right parties share the populist ethos that powered Trump’s stunning 2016 and 2024 campaigns, embracing protectionist economics and emulating his hostility to elites, globalization and mass immigration.
It would be ironic if right-wing populists peak elsewhere just as Trump’s star fades. But he makes an unlikely lame duck, and may copy other second-term presidents who aggressively tried to imprint their legacies on the world before leaving power.
The strength of conservative populism has conjured an existential moment for leaders like Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his new British counterpart Andy Burnham. Both are leading a fight-back by adopting rhetoric and programs designed to blunt the right and reinforce moderate, centrist government.
But Trump’s violent political shifts seem to be stirring a separate counter-reaction, especially in the United States, as the success of democratic socialists in some midterm primaries heralds a new wave of left-wing populism.
by Stephen Collinson/CNN – Trump’s populism thrives globally, but not in America
