Wilders won resoundingly in the Netherlands, and polled much stronger after October 7. Yesterday there were anti-immigrant riots in Dublin, typically a relatively open city (most likely an Algerian migrant stabbed several people). The “far right” party in Austria is very popular, AfD is doing well in Germany, and France could flip. Italy already is there, noting that actual governance has not been so different under Melosi. The Sweden Democrats are part of the ruling coalition. That is a lot of the core EU group, plus Ireland and Sweden. And maybe I have forgotten somebody.
Note to media: Since they keep winning elections, or at least placing well, you can’t call them “far right” any more! How about “deep center”?
In the New World, Milei won in Argentina, Bukele is extremely popular in El Salvador, and Trump is ahead of Biden in most polls. Even the Kiwis moved to the right, albeit in a mild-mannered way. Chile rejected a far left constitution, and Australia voted down one version of indigenous rights, not wanting to put them in the constitution. Petro is unpopular in Colombia and may not finish out his term.
A few observations:
1. If you can’t talk about/think about/write about these developments without perpetually moralizing, it is hard to be an intelligent commentator today.
2. If your main theory here is “racism,” your contribution to the discourse probably is negative. That said, I strongly feel that the events of the last ten or so years should cause us to upgrade our estimates of how much racism is in the world, and in a highly unfortunate manner. That is still a bad dominant explanation for what is going on in the [new] “deep center.”
3. For all the talk of why Biden’s position in the polls is so weak, I don’t see enough talk of “much of the world is moving in a right-wing direction, and global sweeps in ideology are difficult to counter” as a critical explanation. If true, that makes it much harder for Biden to mount a comeback.
4. For the most part, these movements are not “my kind of right-wing.”
5. These trends still carry a lot of momentum. And given that immigration is not about to turn into a political winner, you should be all the more concerned about the pending fertility crisis.
6. I was right when I argued a few years ago that “Wokeism has peaked.”
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