Don’t sleep on this. It’s real.
After the 2016 election we all wrote a lot about the alt-right led by Steve Bannon and Milo Yianopoulos and various Khaki clad Nazis chanting “Jews will not replace us!” I think over time that people began to believe that was all a flash in the pan, not to be taken seriously. But it was reflective of a real global phenomenon and it’s still out there and growing:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Spain’s far-right Sunday in a video shown at a rally in Madrid that also featured messages by the leading stars of Europe’s populist right like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
In a recording that lasted under 40 seconds made while Trump was on a plane, Trump thanked Spain’s far-right Vox party and its leader Santiago Abascal for what he called the “great job” they do.
“We have to make sure that we protect our borders and do lots of very good conservative things,” Trump said. “Spain is a great country and we want to keep it a great country. So congratulations to Vox for so many great messages you get out to the people of Spain and the people of the world.”
Vox captured national attention on Spain’s political landscape in 2019 when it became the third-largest force in Spain’s Parliament after an election that led to a national left-wing coalition that still holds power. Vox’s messages include zero tolerance for Catalan separatism, disdain for gender equality, diatribes against unauthorized immigration from Africa and embracing both the “Reconquista” of medieval Spain from Islam as well as the legacy of Gen. Francisco Franco’s 20th-century dictatorship.
Trumpism isn’t an outlier.
Update: More on Trump’s global wingnut outreach
While most national Republicans have been fretting over whether Dr. Mehmet Oz can rebound in Pennsylvania, or whether Herschel Walker will be tripped up by the ghosts of his past, Donald Trump has also been keeping tabs on the political future of Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and watching closely as Kim Jong-Un rattles the west.
The former president remains keenly invested in the midterm election cycle that is cresting back home. But his attention has been occupied by affairs overseas too.
Trump and his circles have worked to propel the “America First” style of right-wing populism abroad by giving a MAGA stamp of approval for far-right candidates and building informal alliances with burgeoning right-wing movements. Most recently, he provided a last-minute boost for Bolsonaro with a video endorsement filmed on his private plane while on the way back from a rally in Michigan — a video that Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo said contributed to his father’s better than expected showing in Sunday’s presidential election.
Trump’s warned about world war stemming from U.S. policy towards Taiwan, he’s entertained Hungary’s Viktor Orban at his club in New Jersey, and talked longingly about his relationship with Kim Jong-Un as the North Korean leader fired ballistic missiles over Japan.
His allies say it’s part of building his own political brand.
“The president’s endorsement isn’t just a kind of quirky ‘screw you’ to the media and global institutions, it has a big effect with grassroots voters. His voice plays largely in a lot of countries,” said Matt Schlapp, president of the American Conservative Union. “I’ve talked to him about this three or four times and I don’t know if he fully understands he has this kind of non-traditional audience in the U.S. but it is also overseas.”
Trump has long had an affinity for strongmen in far-off countries, going back to his days before becoming president. But his continued fascination with and support for them threatens to further complicate the Republican Party’s search for a cohesive foreign policy doctrine.
Those close to Trump say he views his interest and involvement in foreign elections as a natural extension of his relationships from the White House and his long held efforts to flex political power back home.
“It’s real, his endorsement is looked for as much as a politician here,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former White House strategist. “He knows these people personally whereas he doesn’t have the hangers-on at Mar-a-Lago that are getting paid to deliver endorsements to House and Senate candidates. President Trump is looked at as the leader in that movement.”
[…]
“Trump is a budding authoritarian and he feels a natural affinity with other actual or aspiring authoritarians abroad. Some call it the Illiberal International,” said Max Boot, a foreign policy expert who advised Republican presidential campaigns. “They are united by their embrace of nationalism and xenophobia and rejection of liberal democracy, science, and even reason. The foreign authoritarians learn from Trump and he learns from them. It’s a disturbing dynamic that is doing much to undermine democracy around the world.”
Trump has been unbowed by the critics. He has defended his relationships and endorsements on the grounds that it’s an extension of a brand of foreign policy realism. And his team notes that he’s shaping the GOP around his worldviews. Top voices in the conservative media ecosystem, for instance, have come to forcefully criticize the U.S. commitments to Ukraine.
[…]
“I think it’s a personal friendship. When I’ve discussed it with President Trump, he has a great affinity for leaders who are willing to stand up against the media elites around the world, who are independent minded and he said these people can put their people first,” said former Trump adviser Jason Miller, who now runs social media platform GETTR and has promoted the platform abroad, including in Brazil. “He’s told me it’s ‘the go alone to get along’ crowd.”
[…]
But the influence of Trumpism is still unmistakable – it’s evident abroad. In Brazil, Trump has served as an inspiration for Bolsonaro – often called the “Trump of the Tropics” – who has spent months of his campaign fueling distrust in Brazil’s elections; while Orban has echoed the ex-president in speeches where he rails against the media, illegal immigration, and compares “liberal progressives” to communism.
But it’s been felt at home, too. The Conservative Political Action Conference — often cited as the hotbed of youth activism in the party — has become almost a mirror reflection of the 45th president’s approach. The group has held conferences in Brazil, Israel, Japan, Australia and Hungary and plans to hold another conference in Mexico this November. In its most recent gathering back home, Orban was a keynote speaker and received a certifiable hero’s welcome. It drew condemnation from certain quarters, over Orban’s anti-democratic bent. But CPAC simply reveled in not bending to GOP orthodoxy.
“When we go to Brazil, the Bolsonaro family is featured,” said Schlapp who just returned from CPAC Australia. “We went to Hungary and Orban is featured…CPAC is not usually affiliated with one politician and party and it’s the same role we play in America. As chummy as we like to be with Republicans we are sometimes a bur in their saddle. It’s an uncomfortable role but one we play.”
Matt Schlapp is a hack from way back. He’ making money, period. But there are plenty of people who are pushing this ideology. And it’s becoming more and more popular.