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.

  • shirro@aussie.zone
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    3 hours 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.

    • Saleh@feddit.org
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      2 hours 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.

  • hperrin@lemmy.ca
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    6 hours 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
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      5 hours 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.)

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        5 hours ago

        That combined with the fact that the US in many ways is a confederation jury rigged into a federation doesn’t help. Even if we killed every white person in the South after the civil war I suspect we would still be dealing with the same basil issues just with a different coat of paint. Most of the issues are caused by regional issues, proto-nationalism, and a failing Imperial identity.

        • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 hours ago

          While it’s true that tribalism is essentially a human, if not evolutionary trait, we could have made it damn near harder for fascists from gaining power. To start, stripping them from any political office (local or federal) and then banning them or any soldier that fought for the Confederacy.

          States that seceded basically should have been converted to non-voting territories unless they agreed whole cloth to codify abolition into the Constitution, reparations to the North and to their slaves.

      • Don_alForno@feddit.org
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        1 hour ago

        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.)

        Don’t know where you’re getting that from.

        Most Nazis were never actually stripped from positions of power after the war (teachers, public services, our secret services, political parties, I could go on). Outlawing their symbols did fuck all obviously and isn’t even enforced as long as you don’t go around outright spraying swastikas on walls in broad daylight (or are an antifascist displaying one thrown into a bin, crossed out or otherwise clearly used with an opposing intention). The people in power are unwilling to use the guardrails and systems that we have to prevent Nazis from rising to power again. Meanwhile we have an extremism problem in our police force who won’t protect anybody from the mob when the time comes, and a “conservative” party that’s just always lagging 5 years behind the AfD in their policies, racing ever further to the right in their wind shadow.

        We’re fucked.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    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.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    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.

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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      5 hours ago

      The problem is that we don’t have a left party; the closest are the Democrats and they’re Republicans in all but name.

  • Kyrrrr@lemmynsfw.com
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    7 hours ago

    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.

  • LupusBlackfur@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    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…

    🤷‍♂️ 🤡 🖕

  • FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com
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    8 hours ago

    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

  • Rentlar@lemmy.ca
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    8 hours ago

    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.