Right-Wing Populism May Be Wounded, But It’s Certainly Not Dead
With Trump’s defeat and other setbacks for the Right around the world, some commentators have proclaimed the death of right-populism. But the structural factors that gave rise to it remain in place, and only a recharged left-wing movement can address them.
France’s far-right party Front National (FN) president, Marine Le Pen, and former adviser in the Donald Trump administration, Steve Bannon, give a joint press conference during the Front National annual congress on March 10, 2018 at the Grand Palais in Lille, north of France. (Sylvain Lefevre / Getty Images)
Donald Trump has been defeated, and for all his wallowing in a state of denial, will soon have to leave the White House. But does the Trump defeat really signify the end of Trumpism and its global counterparts?
The rise of a new nationalist right, represented by figures such as Trump, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Italy’s Matteo Salvini, and France’s Marine Le Pen, was the most significant political trend of the 2010s. Using a toxic reactionary discourse that combined national chauvinism, enmity towards migrants and minorities, and denunciation of intellectuals and experts as traitors to the people, these figures achieved impressive electoral successes, with many conquering the heights of state power or coming close to it.
Now that Trump is on the way out, the big question is whether this upsurge of the far right proves to be just a flash in the pan or a persistent trend.
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