Hard-right politics grow across the globe
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This Trump T-shirt was being worn in Italy, during Sunday's annual rally of the far-right Lega (League) party in Pontida. Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images
International Trump support reflects a global phenomenon: The hard right, once fringe, is gaining power and popularity across Europe, Latin America and elsewhere.
Why it matters: Immigration, inflation and the rising cost of climate policy are creating potent new targets for populism, the Economist reports.
Zoom in: In Europe, nationalist or far-right parties are growing in Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and even Finland and Sweden.
- Newish democracies "that for decades lacked big nationalist parties — Portugal, Romania and Spain — now have them," the Economist adds.
It's also true in Latin America: Tucker Carlson just traveled to Argentina to interview Javier Milei, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist" (radical libertarian) who came out of nowhere to become the favorite in next month's presidential election.
- Right-wing populists have made inroads in Chile, Paraguay and El Salvador, often with tough-on-crime messages, AP reports.
What's happening: Right-wing populists have lost — most notably former President Trump in the U.S., right-wing leader Marine Le Pen in France and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. But the global phenomenon doesn't appear to be ebbing, Axios' Dave Lawler tells me.
- In all three, the more mainstream victors have seen their popularity wane. As in countries across the rich world, the far-right is still knocking at the door each election cycle.
Between the lines: In several cases, right-wingers are coming back strong after losing.
- That includes Trump (who was tied with President Biden in a national 2024 poll by CBS News/YouGov, out Sunday), and Le Pen, who is leveraging Europe's immigration crisis.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu partnered with the extreme right to return to office, giving once-fringe parties a bigger voice than ever before — and helping spark a political crisis.
- Netanyahu is in the U.S. this week, and will hold a bilateral meeting with Biden on Wednesday in New York at the UN General Assembly.
- First, Netanyahu will meet Monday with Elon Musk in San Francisco to talk AI.
- Minutes before leaving for the U.S., the Israeli leader said pro-democracy protesters who will demonstrate against him in California and New York "are aligning themselves with the PLO and Iran."
Reporting was contributed by Axios' Barak Ravid and Zachary Basu.
