I’ve been wondering about this since the election. Surely some European and Canadian conservatives must be looking at Trump and wondering whether he’s the end-state of their movement as well. It at least raises some uncomfortable questions about true intentions, guard rails, and this cherry-picking lens many use for the far-right (e.g. “oh they’ll crush the wokes but they’ll stop there, right?”). Anyways,
> Mr Trump’s re-election initially invigorated the European hard right. The American president’s anti-woke national conservatism chimes with the politics of leaders such as Ms Meloni. Boosted by Elon Musk, a social-media mogul who is the president’s ally, it looked set to help the electoral chances of hard-right candidates. The most important of these is France’s Marine Le Pen, who leads polls for the country’s presidential election in 2027. (Judges will decide on March 31st whether to immediately block her from running over alleged misuse of European Parliament funds.)
> Yet the speed with which Mr Trump has upended transatlantic relations, undermined NATO and distanced himself from Ukraine has discomfited hard-right leaders. It has put Ms Meloni at odds with Italy’s partners in the European Union and with other allies. And it has exposed the ambiguous relationship of Ms Le Pen and her party, the National Rally (RN), to their American analogues: French and American nationalism do not always mix.
> Ms Meloni has made plain her discomfort with Europe’s assertive response to Mr Trump. She turned up 50 minutes late for the first Trump-era crisis meeting, organised in Paris by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, on February 17th. Italian officials said she disapproved of the format, which did not include all 27 EU states. Yet when Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, held a broader virtual summit a month later, she waited until the night before to decide to take part.
> Last month, when Volodymyr Zelensky was rebuked in the White House by Mr Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance, Ms Meloni was, conspicuously, the only major European leader not to declare support for the Ukrainian president. On March 12th in the European Parliament the deputies of her hard-right Brothers of Italy party abstained on a motion supporting Ukraine (one voted against it). On both occasions, the reason was fear of upsetting Mr Trump. Ms Meloni has since said she will not contribute Italian troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. Her MEPs did vote for the European Commission’s new ReArm Europe programme. But she opposes confiscating Russian assets, frozen under EU sanctions, to give to Ukraine.
> For years Ms Meloni has staunchly backed Ukraine and condemned Russia. Why the apparent volte-face? Personal resentment may play a part. Before the new American administration took office, Ms Meloni was touted as Europe’s “Trump-whisperer”. She was feted by the American president as a “fantastic woman” and invited to his inauguration. But that was before Mr Vance bashed Europe at the Munich security conference in February, and before Mr Trump called the EU an organisation “formed in order to screw the United States”. Now Europe’s initiative has been snatched by leaders prepared to take a more robust line: Sir Keir and Mr Macron, with whom Italy’s prime minister has a thorny relationship.
> Plenty of hard-right European leaders remain delighted by Mr Trump. Mr Orban calls him a “comrade-in-arms” and an inspiration for Hungary. Mr Musk is championing Germany’s far-right opposition leader, Alice Weidel. But for Ms Meloni and Ms Le Pen, the American president could become a serious headache. Europeans don’t like him: a tiny 6% of French and 8% of Italians told a poll in March that Mr Trump is “a friend of Europe”. The more his blustering brand of nationalism seems damaging to the continent, the more voters in Italy and France may doubt its local versions.
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I’ve been wondering about this since the election. Surely some European and Canadian conservatives must be looking at Trump and wondering whether he’s the end-state of their movement as well. It at least raises some uncomfortable questions about true intentions, guard rails, and this cherry-picking lens many use for the far-right (e.g. “oh they’ll crush the wokes but they’ll stop there, right?”). Anyways,
> Mr Trump’s re-election initially invigorated the European hard right. The American president’s anti-woke national conservatism chimes with the politics of leaders such as Ms Meloni. Boosted by Elon Musk, a social-media mogul who is the president’s ally, it looked set to help the electoral chances of hard-right candidates. The most important of these is France’s Marine Le Pen, who leads polls for the country’s presidential election in 2027. (Judges will decide on March 31st whether to immediately block her from running over alleged misuse of European Parliament funds.)
> Yet the speed with which Mr Trump has upended transatlantic relations, undermined NATO and distanced himself from Ukraine has discomfited hard-right leaders. It has put Ms Meloni at odds with Italy’s partners in the European Union and with other allies. And it has exposed the ambiguous relationship of Ms Le Pen and her party, the National Rally (RN), to their American analogues: French and American nationalism do not always mix.
> Ms Meloni has made plain her discomfort with Europe’s assertive response to Mr Trump. She turned up 50 minutes late for the first Trump-era crisis meeting, organised in Paris by France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, on February 17th. Italian officials said she disapproved of the format, which did not include all 27 EU states. Yet when Sir Keir Starmer, Britain’s prime minister, held a broader virtual summit a month later, she waited until the night before to decide to take part.
> Last month, when Volodymyr Zelensky was rebuked in the White House by Mr Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance, Ms Meloni was, conspicuously, the only major European leader not to declare support for the Ukrainian president. On March 12th in the European Parliament the deputies of her hard-right Brothers of Italy party abstained on a motion supporting Ukraine (one voted against it). On both occasions, the reason was fear of upsetting Mr Trump. Ms Meloni has since said she will not contribute Italian troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine. Her MEPs did vote for the European Commission’s new ReArm Europe programme. But she opposes confiscating Russian assets, frozen under EU sanctions, to give to Ukraine.
> For years Ms Meloni has staunchly backed Ukraine and condemned Russia. Why the apparent volte-face? Personal resentment may play a part. Before the new American administration took office, Ms Meloni was touted as Europe’s “Trump-whisperer”. She was feted by the American president as a “fantastic woman” and invited to his inauguration. But that was before Mr Vance bashed Europe at the Munich security conference in February, and before Mr Trump called the EU an organisation “formed in order to screw the United States”. Now Europe’s initiative has been snatched by leaders prepared to take a more robust line: Sir Keir and Mr Macron, with whom Italy’s prime minister has a thorny relationship.
> Plenty of hard-right European leaders remain delighted by Mr Trump. Mr Orban calls him a “comrade-in-arms” and an inspiration for Hungary. Mr Musk is championing Germany’s far-right opposition leader, Alice Weidel. But for Ms Meloni and Ms Le Pen, the American president could become a serious headache. Europeans don’t like him: a tiny 6% of French and 8% of Italians told a poll in March that Mr Trump is “a friend of Europe”. The more his blustering brand of nationalism seems damaging to the continent, the more voters in Italy and France may doubt its local versions.
!ping EUROPE&FOREIGN-POLICY