Le Front Trump: Europe's Populist Revolt Is Spreading
Is there really an international wave of a hard-right populism? Are the masses rising up around the world to topple corrupt elites? Or is talk of this colossal political shift just jargon, guff and cocktail chatter concocted by analysts searching for patterns when the victories of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election and Britain’s decision to leave the EU—to name the two most significant results in the West—could just be unconnected blips?
A year ago, the evidence for a global phenomenon was weak. Some midsize European countries, Hungary and Poland, had elected rightist, anti-globalization governments, and France, the Netherlands, Sweden and a few other European nations had parties that were beginning, maybe, to look like electoral contenders. The U.K. was heading for a vote on its EU membership, but few people thought the majority would vote for Brexit. At that point, Trump seemed to be just a whacky sideshow in a Republican primary.
As Newsweek’s Josh Lowe and Owen Matthews report in this week's cover story, the evidence of an international populist surge has grown since then. Trump’s victory has made it harder for centrists to close their eyes and hope nationalism will just disappear. His triumph was a shock in many ways, but one of the most sobering aspects of it is his warmth toward prominent authoritarian leaders and foreign politicians with alarming views. Trump’s counterparts in Europe, long confined to the margins of politics, will watch with admiration as Trump, soon to be the world’s most powerful person, takes office on January 20.
Read more: How Donald Trump surged public anger to the presidency
The 45th U.S. president will have a growing number of like-minded company at marquee meetings like the G-20 and the U.N. General Assembly, where the power players have, in recent years, been centrists like U.S.
