The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again
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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 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.
Lieberals were in front for a long time, and then trump started his bullshit and Labor came from behind and soared into victory.
Here in Canada the last-minute swing from Conservative to Liberal was definitely a response to Trump, particularly to his repeated threats to take over our country.
Worldwide it may be more that what causes the rise of fascism in the USA also causes it worldwide - and sometimes this is an actual network of wealthy right-wing organizations and nation states working to promote it through propaganda and funding.
Australia is in a very different position to Canada geographically and strategically. Our politics can be almost as different as our climate.
Australia’s major party primary vote has been declining for ages. In the most recent Canadian election the opposite happened and the major parties gained votes at the expense of the smaller parties. In Canada both the Libs and Conservatives increased their vote share. Lets repeat that, the Conservatives in Canada, despite existential threats from Trump to annex and bankrupt their country increased their votes while the mainstream conservative party in Australia declined in vote share despite Trump policies having less direct impact here than practically anywhere else. Carney limped home with minority government while Albo thumped the conservatives with a huge majority. We are not the same. Not even close.
In Australia Labor had a relatively modest increase while the Liberals lost a few percent. The Green vote barely changed but independents and smaller populist parties did ok including One Nation which had a modest increase in votes. Nothing like Canada.
I think the consensus from most domestic commentators is that the Liberals in Australia ran a poor campaign, their policies failed to impress swing voters in marginals struggling with cost of living and looking for an alternative and Labor campaigned better than expected.
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.
Doubt it would play out that way in the US. They’re much more likely to take military action when the world cuts them out since making weapons is what made them rich and you can’t keep making weapons without using or selling them.
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)