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.
Fascism. It’s called Fascism, not, “Trumpism.”
So fucking stupid.
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.
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.
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.
If you check the polls, nothing changed in Australia to justify the rapid drop of the right wing, except Trump.
Mate.
The Liberals lost so hard 2 elections ago that they were never going to win despite what any opinion poll may have said. Dutton ran on a platform of nothing, and never had one positive public moment. The party has been running around like a headless chook and will continue to do so.
The Libs lost because of Dutton, not because of Trump.
Lieberals were in front for a long time, and then trump started his bullshit and Labor came from behind and soared into victory.
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.
I’m astounded that Theresa May wasn’t the calling that unrestricted liberal economics (aka trickle down) is a fairytale.
And that economic stability is held by the safety net the lower class makes use of and the middle class falls back to. (Social economics)
And yet I keep seeing Trump’s name and picture next to German words I can’t read here… curious.
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.)
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.
Exactly this. The Confederates should never have been allowed to rejoin society.
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.
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.
Celebrating prematurely. The UK is about to go fascist, Germany is teetering on the brink, and Canada only just dodged a bullet for now.
And no mention of Italy?
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.
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.
And Portugal overthrew fascism in the 1970s, too…
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
… 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.
Poland actually got rid of their right wing government in the last election in 2023 and are hopefully dumping the president who’s been blocking reform. It can be done.
Poland is not out of the woods yet though
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.
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It’s a Facebook link… maybe at least give a blurb on why I should click it.
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We don’t have a general election for another 4 years in the UK.
Reform won some council seats and are already having issues.
The fact that they’re getting this far bothers me though.
What? No. All our (Canadian) fascists are gonna separate and join the US. Then we’ll be a fascist-free country!
Trade Alberta for the Western and Northeastern states
I sure hope this is right…
One can hope, but each time I get optimistic, some crazy bullshit goes down.
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.
Please explain how neoliberalism is as far-right as fascism.
No one is saying neoliberalism is as far right as fascism. However fascism has a cloak of populism that it can hide under that neoliberalism can never do because they are tied to corporate interests in varying degrees. As such, a lot of working class people gravitate towards fascists who pay lip service to working class struggles.
At the end of the day, both neoliberals and fascists benefit from an undereducated and overworked population. That is why we need true alternatives that support the working class
No one is saying neoliberalism is as far right as fascism.
GP comment said exactly that though. Although they did throw in an “about”.
At the end of the day, both neoliberals and fascists benefit from an undereducated and overworked population. That is why we need true alternatives that support the working class
Pretty much what I was referring to. I think the difference is a matter of motivation. Fascists want power and complete control, neoliberals don’t, but either one would applaude streets paved with dead bodies if it lowered costs by 10%.
Better late than never I suppose. Congrats everyone else.
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.
Agree. Let’s take the hit and move towards getting off this fucking planet.
Take the hit and learn the lessons. And fix this planet.
It’s not Trumpism, it’s fascism.
😂
Those things are, in fact, equivalent.
Squares are to rectangles as Trumpism is to fascism.
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.
Copium is my preferred term.
The more cynical cousin of hopium.
The problem is that we don’t have a left party; the closest are the Democrats and they’re Republicans in all but name.
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.
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
Can we sequester him? In the dirt, please?
