Far-Right Leaders Are Forging a Global Alliance
Donald Trump’s return to power is a morale booster for far-right politicians like Viktor Orbán, Javier Milei, and Giorgia Meloni. Having pioneered many of the destructive, reactionary ideas associated with Trumpism, they’re now aspiring to global hegemony.
US president Donald Trump and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán pose for a picture at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on May 25, 2017. (Danny Gys / AFP via Getty Images)
I expect the mood was joyful at Budapest’s Scruton Café following the news of Donald Trump’s election to a second term in office. The café is named after the English philosopher Roger Scruton, revered by American and European right-wingers.
It also featured prominently in the Vice documentary “America and Hungary, a Far-Right Love Affair” as a popular spot where right-wing thinkers from around the world converge and parrot conservative talking points. Hungary, under the far-right leader Victor Orbán, is often held up on a pedestal by the right as proof that an illiberal future is indeed possible.
But Budapest is not the only capital city where populist, right-wing politicians are feeling hopeful following the US elections. From Rome to Buenos Aires, and from San Salvador to New Delhi, right-wing leaders are similarly optimistic that, with a friend like Donald Trump at the helm in Washington, an illiberal reconstruction of global politics is within reach.
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