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.
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.
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.)
You have to wonder what infects the minds of people such that they fall for this in other countries.
I have a good idea what does it here.
One can hope, but each time I get optimistic, some crazy bullshit goes down.
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.
Headlines like this are for protecting the oligarchy. We all get involved until our lawmakers aren’t old rich people. We pass laws that require oversight and transparency. We protect those institutions and laws that serve democracy with our lives.
But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.
Sorry, wut??
Can’t imagine what in the screaming goat fuck would lead you to this conclusion other than pure blind idiocy…
🤷♂️ 🤡 🖕
The Australian election is a perfect example of people voting against something. It’s not that Labor were particularly palatable (I personally voted for the Greens), but the alternate of Temu Trump was more than most people could countenance
The nation collectively voted for the lesser evil
I’m hugely relieved, but the most interesting thing is the vote from the younger cohort who have aged a bit. It’s not news to anyone who pays attention to politics, but they usual shift rightward with age isn’t happening to the same degree
But is it really?
It’s not Trumpism, it’s fascism.
😂
Those things are, in fact, equivalent.
Squares are to rectangles as Trumpism is to fascism.
I can’t assuredly say we have beat conservative populism yet, but we are at least bringing competence to government.
The issue we haven’t solved is that many young people now are coming of age upon a platter of socially engineered falsehood.
Can we sequester him? In the dirt, please?
Looks like I’m gonna have to buy another newspaper tomorrow.
As long as neoliberals are the only alternative, fascism will always come back.
You mean modern liberals? Neoliberalism is about as far-right as fascism.
Celebrating prematurely. The UK is about to go fascist, Germany is teetering on the brink, and Canada only just dodged a bullet for now.
… 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.
What? No. All our (Canadian) fascists are gonna separate and join the US. Then we’ll be a fascist-free country!
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.
We don’t have a general election for another 4 years in the UK.
Reform won some council seats and are already having issues.
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. 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.
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.
I wouldn’t give Trump the credit for this. Yeah he is a great example of how bad it can get but the move to the left has been long on its way and picking up speednfornsome time! Trump may have boosted a snowball that was already rolling
Except it’s really not a move to the left, it’s just a slight slowing down of the move to the right. Fascism is currently gaining footholds in much of the western world.
So, while the handful of left victories are great, it’s super dangerous to frame them as a reversal of fascism.
