Many countries are shifting from a universal
civil nationalism towards the blood-and-soil, ethnic sort.
—The Economist (Nov. 19, 2016)
I just returned from a 3-week trip to France, and there were two days where I was close to tears. The first was a visit to Notre Dame where I choked up about our guide’s announcement that the restoration of this magnificent cathedral was near completion. Our guide said that she cried all day long when a fire nearly destroyed the entire edifice in 2019.
The second emotional day was the visit to the Normandy beaches and cemeteries. I was reminded of Donald Trump’s vile comments about those who gave their lives in foreign wars. Trump has repeatedly called our veterans—most notably former Sen. John McCain—“losers” and “suckers.”
On Memorial Day 2017, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery accompanied by Gen. John Kelly. They stopped at the grave of Kelly’s son Robert. Incredibly enough, Trump turned to him and said “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?”
In 2018, while visiting France, Trump cancelled a trip to honor U.S. soldiers at a WWI cemetery. Rain prevented the presidential helicopter from flying, and Trump’s aides claimed that there was no secure ground transport option. An adviser to former President Obama immediately countered that there was always a “rain option.”
Nicholas Soames, a grandson of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, alleged that Trump had dishonored U.S. servicemen. “They died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate Donald Trump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to the fallen.” Can anyone explain to me why six in ten veterans still support this manifoldly flawed man for president?
There are some instructive parallels between President Joe Biden and France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Immigration is a major issue in Europe and right-wing parties, just as in the U.S., have made electoral gains by capitalizing on it. A bill that would limit the number of immigrants and deny them welfare benefits was tabled after members of Macron’s party revolted when he, reluctantly, offered support for it.
In 2022, Macro won a five-year term by a commanding vote of 59% over the right-wing candidate Marine Le Pen at 42%. Biden’s margin of victory was much smaller (51%-47%) but he and Macron soon faced strong criticism and a precipitous drop in approval ratings. Biden started with 55% and he now stands at 38%, while only 24% of French voters approve of Macron’s performance.
Elections for the European Parliament are slated for June and polls show that the fickle French electorate is ready to give Macron a resounding defeat. Over 30% favor Le Pen’s party while only 18% would vote for Macron’s candidates. Other far right parties are expected to make gains, which might give them 25% of the vote.
The June election will involve over 400 million voters who will select 720 representatives to the European Parliament in Brussels. The right-wing parties will, as one commentator asserted, “threaten the EU’s sacred values on rule of law and human rights and block or even overturn major green and climate laws.”
Illiberal parties are ascendant all over Europe. Germany’s social democratic chancellor garners only 20% support, while the German far right is now polling second behind the conservatives. Sweden’s conservative leader stands at only 33% while a former neo-Nazi party has become the nation’s second largest.
The Dutch anti-Islam and anti-immigration party won the most seats in last November’s election, but it, fortunately, does not have enough support to form a coalition government. Its leader Geert Wilders is just as outrageous as Trump in his condemnation of immigrants and criticism of NATO.
The party of Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has neo-fascist roots, but she has surprised critics by governing responsibly. Most notably she has sided with Ukraine against Russia. She has also rejected calls for deporting undocumented immigrants, something that Trump has threatened to do. She realizes, as Trump ignorantly does not, that such a policy would destroy the economy.
France’s Le Pen has also sent moderating signs. She has announced that her party will make a “clean break” with Germany far right party Alternatives for Germany. She was outraged by one of its candidates for the European Parliament. He said that the Nazis SS “were not all criminals.”
In contrast to Trump, Europe’s most right-wing leaders, even while espousing their illiberal policies, are saner and more predictable. Trump’s heroes are the world’s dictators, whom he says are “at the top of their game, whether you like it or not.” But among them Trump he is considered, especially by Russia’s Vladimir Putin, gullible and manipulable. The free world has much to fear about a Trump win in November.
Gier is professor emeritus at the University of Idaho. Read more about Trump’s European allies at bit.ly/3WYnPwj. Email him at ngier006∂gmail.com.