Trump may be toxic and Orbán is gone, but Europe’s far right is not in decline | Cas Mudde

Let’s not draw the wrong conclusions from Hungary’s election or the US president’s troubles Viktor Orbán’s crushing defeat in last month’s Hungarian election has led to an outbreak of democratic optimism. Across the globe, democrats are drawing lessons from the results and speculating about the decline of the far right. There is simultaneously a consensus that Donald Trump has gone from inspiration to “liability” for the global far right. While the fall of Orbán has great symbolic significance and important consequences for EU politics (see the EU-Ukraine deal), we should be very careful not to read too much into it for three reasons. Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading...

Cas Mudde Let’s not draw the wrong conclusions from Hungary’s election or the US president’s troubles V iktor Orbán’s crushing defeat in last month’s Hungarian election has led to an outbreak of democratic optimism. Across the globe, democrats are drawing lessons from the results and speculating about the decline of the far right . There is simultaneously a consensus that Donald Trump has gone from inspiration to “ liability ” for the global far right. First, as far as lessons for how to defeat so-called illiberal democrats are concerned, we must bear in mind that Orbán was in power for an exceptionally rare 16 years. Second, while the European far right has lost its unofficial leader, it is not in decline.

Sure, some other far-right parties have also recently lost elections (in Bulgaria, for example) or power (the Netherlands). The thing is, the far right is here to stay, and many of its parties are as established as the (former) “mainstream” parties. The European People’s party (EPP), the EU-wide political alliance of centre-right parties, is now openly collaborating with far-right parties to pass legislation in the European parliament, while still openly flirting with Meloni . As long ago as the 2024 EU elections, the EPP was adopting far-right scepticism towards the climate crisis and environmental protection, in an effort to keep dissatisfied farmers from jumping ship to the far right. Third, it is true that Trump is at the moment “ toxic ” for the far right, although this had no significant effect on the Hungarian election.

Simply stated, when the US president is threatening to occupy Greenland and leave Nato, or introducing trade tariffs on the EU, he is a liability for European far-right parties. But when he is mainly linked to anti-establishment and immigration policies, or his alleged fight against “the swamp” and “wokeness”, his star rises again within the far right – although European far-right voters are overall rather sceptical of Trump. But Trump helps the European far right simply by being the US president. This endless comparison, and the inability to accept that there can be various shades of far right, helps savvy politicians such as Meloni. Explore more on these topics Share Reuse this content Let’s not draw the wrong conclusions from Hungary’s election or the US president’s troubles Viktor Orbán’s crushing defeat in last month’s Hungarian election has led to an outbreak of democratic optimism.

Across the globe, democrats are drawing lessons from the results and speculating about the decline of the far right. There is simultaneously a consensus that Donald Trump has gone from inspiration to “liability” for the global far right. While the fall of Orbán has great symbolic significance and important consequences for EU politics (see the EU-Ukraine deal), we should be very careful not to read too much into it for three reasons. Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today Continue reading... Trump may be toxic and Orbán is gone, but Europe’s far right is not in decline | Cas Mudde