The West was moving to the right — and then Donald Trump got elected again
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Something is happening among America’s allies, and it’s a tremendous relief. For some years now, we’ve seen the MAGA-infused global right gaining a foothold amongst western democracies, largely driven by the same demagogic, nationalist, pseudo-populism that has fueled Donald Trump’s dominance on the American right.
Some countries like Hungary have served as a sort of experiment for the kind of post-democratic autocracies dreamt of by the modern right wing in which government co-opts, intimidates and de-legitimizes the political opposition to create an authoritarianism that dominates the culture and the politics without a lot of overt violence.
But the rise of the far right among the Western allies seems to be stalling out.
Here in Canada the last-minute swing from Conservative to Liberal was definitely a response to Trump, particularly to his repeated threats to take over our country.
Worldwide it may be more that what causes the rise of fascism in the USA also causes it worldwide - and sometimes this is an actual network of wealthy right-wing organizations and nation states working to promote it through propaganda and funding.
Australia is in a very different position to Canada geographically and strategically. Our politics can be almost as different as our climate.
Australia’s major party primary vote has been declining for ages. In the most recent Canadian election the opposite happened and the major parties gained votes at the expense of the smaller parties. In Canada both the Libs and Conservatives increased their vote share. Lets repeat that, the Conservatives in Canada, despite existential threats from Trump to annex and bankrupt their country increased their votes while the mainstream conservative party in Australia declined in vote share despite Trump policies having less direct impact here than practically anywhere else. Carney limped home with minority government while Albo thumped the conservatives with a huge majority. We are not the same. Not even close.
In Australia Labor had a relatively modest increase while the Liberals lost a few percent. The Green vote barely changed but independents and smaller populist parties did ok including One Nation which had a modest increase in votes. Nothing like Canada.
I think the consensus from most domestic commentators is that the Liberals in Australia ran a poor campaign, their policies failed to impress swing voters in marginals struggling with cost of living and looking for an alternative and Labor campaigned better than expected.