In 2017, the president Donald Trump was almost the only nationalist populist leader in the West. Liberal democracy — its protection in the country and its promotion abroad — remained political standard in the US and Europe. At the American Conference of Right-Right Conservatives CPAC only 1 crucial abroad speaker, British Nigel FarageWho has just resigned as leader of the UK independency organization after the brexit campaign.
Eight years later Trump was joined by many right-wing populists on the planet stage, and nationalism became mainstream. CPAC 2025 was a verifiable global event, with guests specified as president Javier Milei, Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico Or Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
But while it is clear that nationalism is experiencing its moment, for now it is only a moment.
For an American Conservative who missed the cooperation of Western nationalists, this is surely exciting. If nationalists play their cards well, they can usage election successes to redefine the default political language of the West, replacing the liberal-democratic perfect with a fresh commitment to the thought of Western civilization preferred by nationalists.
However, this is simply a minute that can rapidly pass if the western populist right remains unorganized. Her leaders and thinkers have not yet made a joint effort to make a truly Mr. Western moment. Whether populist nationalism can become a permanent global movement remains an open issue.
Western right-wing populism, on both sides of the Atlantic, has long been halted by 3 crises: a crisis of legitimacy, a crisis of common distrust and a crisis of longevity. The first 2 have been mostly averted. But the third, the question of longevityIt inactive matters.
Breaking Right
Legitimization is frequently a problem for populist movements, as populism is an impact in the thought of establishment — and hitting the establishment brings instability. Although groups specified as the American Society of John Birch in the late 1950s and French National Unity In the 1980s, they experienced many jumps in the second half of the 20th century, usually rapidly breaking down. Western societies have not yet felt sufficiently afraid about social change or global issues to hazard the instability that populist control could bring.
Another issue related to the legitimacy of populists is that populist-right movements frequently organise around units. While any of these individualized movements, specified as those centered around Trump or Hungarian Viktor Orban, they succeeded in bringing their leaders to power, others did not. For example, French Marine Le Pen She refuses to leave the political scene even though she has twice lost the presidential election (the next issue is whether she will be able to compete in the next election at all due to the fact that the court in Paris has banned her from moving and her appeal will be examined next summer). The unpopularity of the policy made it hard for her organization to gain power and thus gain political legitimacy.
Mutual mistrust between American and European populists was another origin of the disunity of the western right. Many European parties, specified as the Austrian Free organization and Alternative to Germany (AfD), saw the US as imperialistic. And the American populist right was not curious in Europe, seeing European countries as parasites.
But in the late 1920s. The 21st century pan-Western populist-right ties became stronger. More right-wing populists gained support or grew stronger, and incompetent politicians were sidelined. Orban set up a fresh European parliamentary political group Patriots for Europewhich rapidly became the 3rd largest in the European Parliament. The European right besides demonstrated its capacity to cooperate, supporting the promotion resolutions border walls and the creation of relocation centres for migrants from 3rd countries.
Europeans have besides reached America. At 1 specified meeting, the Young Republican event in fresh York City in 2023, populist-right politicians from Austria met with Republicans. Last year Meloni — besides in fresh York City — presented her imagination of Western patriotism at the Atlantic Council event. Trump repeatedly met with Orban in Florida and was close to organizing a run event in Pennsylvania with Polish president Andrzej Duda.
Allied throughout the West
Thousands of young conservatives besides participated in transatlantic initiatives specified as Matthias Corvinus Collegium — a conservative academic institution in Hungary linked to the Government of Orban — and another alleged NatCon events in Europe and the US.
Both sides realized that transatlantic conservative populism legitimizes movements both at home and abroad. During Trump's first term, his opposition was able to present him as illegal. “This is not normal!” was a repeatedly heard chorus. It was regularly mentioned that he had no friends in Europe.
But now Trump has real allies all over the West. CPAC was not the first global event of its second term: this title belongs to its inauguration. The advantage of right-wing populists invited to the event — Italian Meloni, Argentine Milei, Belgian Tom Van Grieken, Hungarian Orban, French Eric Zemmour, Salvadoran Nayib Bukele, and others — indicates that Trump takes his connections seriously with akin Western populists.
Attila Kisbendek / AFPViktor Orban, April 2025.
European nationalists have besides found that new Republicans are not imperialists aiming to colonise Europe. In fact, they wanted Europeans to defend themselves. The continued existence of Trump in global policy and the standardisation of its ideas have besides helped European populists submit proposals that would have been completely unacceptable a decade ago, specified as support for border walls. It is no coincidence that the cry of “remigration!” pushed the Austrian Free organization and the German AfD to fresh political summits at the same time as Trump supported mass deportations. This has all caused a immense change in European populist thinking.
The direct actions of the Second Trump Administration besides helped European populist leaders. Close USAID and another State Department programs included the cancellation of millions of dollars in contracts for “civil society” organisations in Hungary — in fact anti-Orbanist entities.
The Chance of Power
The crises of legitimacy and distrust have so been mostly resolved. Populist nationalism is now mainstream, and in many western countries it has completely replaced the old centre-right.
But the 3rd crisis, longevityIt inactive exists. Finally, being mainstream guarantees a chance to gain power — but any bad choices can rapidly end this.
A completely different thing is to become the default political trend in a given country. In the West, liberal democracy is the default political system. Although in the 21st century it could be called progressive democracy, it was internally protected by governments. Outside it was promoted through speeches, aid grants, and even wars, including those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Liberal democracy as default besides forced dictatorships specified as Russia, to go through democratic movements — specified as national elections and pretending that the Moscow ultimate Court is in any way independent of the Kremlin.
Replacing liberal democracy will be difficult. Concerns besides pose external threats, namely an increase in importance ChinaWho threatens to break up in the West. As the Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, the planet is now multipolar. National interests run abroad policy, which means that careful work will be needed to keep the West together.
Can the Western populist right solve the crisis of longevity? Can their ideology become a political standard? These questions are peculiarly acute at a time erstwhile it seems that at least any right-wing nationalist movements do not see agreement with Donald Trump on the support for Ukraine. In any countries, specified as Canada, anti-Trump moods seem to diminish support for conservative movements. But unlike past mistrust, these misunderstandings are more of a household misunderstanding.
Western Civilization
Nevertheless, in order for populist nationalism to replace liberal democracy as a global standard, the populist right should focus around a clear mark that is greater than a single leader or a single country. Here the Action Plan has already been set up: Western nationalists should double their efforts to advance the thought of "Western civilization".
Western civilization, which rejects the concept of a single global civilization and alternatively focuses on the precedence of Western interests, carries a set of values that include individualism, Christian social thought, and typical — although not necessarily liberal or progressive — democracy. This was a origin for pride for right-wing populists. 1 of the main signs of a wave of populism was the abrupt popularity of European identity movements in early 2010, which opposed multiculturalism and globalisation. These groups utilized the Greek lambda as their symbol, referring to the earliest days of the West.
Saul Loeb / AFPDonald Trump, April 2025.
As populists gained power, they were increasingly talking about saving Western civilization. Meloni, before becoming Prime Minister of Italy, frequently raised this issue, and continued it erstwhile she was in power — most late in her speech on CPAC 2025. She said that the West should not be seen “only as geographical space, but as civilization born of the combination of Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christian values‘. Later in the same speech, she defended the vice president's speeches J. D. Vance in Munich, saying that he was right, arguing that "before security, we request to know what we are defending." Trump hit a akin note in 2017, arguing during a speech in Poland that "the fundamental question of our times is whether the West has the will to survive".
All this happened after decades of erasure of discussions about Western civilization from the mainstream. Although the West was inactive utilized as a geographical term, students in the US and Europe were not raised to think of themselves as members of a separate civilization, unlike Russian or Chinese students. Western civilization was no longer even required at universities. She seemed to be the thought of the past, not the present or the future.
Liberal Democrats tried to replace it with a focus on creating a global community. However, with the emergence of multipolarity, this effort failed. Replacing defeat with a fresh emphasis on belonging to 1 Western civilization would aid both the US and Europe in geopolitical and social terms — and would aid make right-wing populism the default.
An alliance hard to break
As Meloni and Vance argued, you gotta realize what you defend before you defend yourself. In Europe, this "something" is simply a mystery. Are Europeans trying to defend the European Commission or another bureaucratic organisation? Not very inspiring. But Western civilization, something that goes back thousands of years — it will be a substance for which people will virtually fight.
The U.S. has always been inspired by ideas. Since Thomas Jefferson wrote about America as the “Imperium of Freedom”, it has been considered exceptional. After Jefferson, decades later, “Revealed Destiny” occurred. Then the desire to grow to the Pacific. Woodrow Wilson came next, starting slow transformation of the US into a world-traveling crusader.
Realistic abroad policy is the best solution for multipolarity. However, hard realism is not inspiring to the average politician. But America, acting in agreement with the remainder of Western civilization, fighting together again in a multipolar world? That could work.
From a geopolitical point of view, the "Western Block" would aid both America and Europe. If Russia and China, the another 2 poles of the coming planet order, combine their resources — as they do present — will be highly powerful. By joining a Europe ready (and inspired) to defend itself, America can guarantee that Europe acts as a bastion against Russia while turning towards Asia. This final step — Europe’s willingness to defend — is crucial, due to the fact that even now Europeans are inactive slowing down with increased spending.
The emergence of this western block in the multipolar planet order would make a civilizational alliance that would be very hard to break. Center or centre-left governments would begin to talk the language of Western civilization, just as many right-wing governments were forced to talk the language of liberal democracy for much of the 20th century.
To become a reality, pro-Western parties and populations will request help. Liberal Democrats received financial assistance from people specified as George Soros, whose Open Society Foundation spent millions throughout the West to support progressive cases, candidates and organizations. Soros even founded a university, Central European University, now located in Vienna. These actions helped keep liberal democracy as a standard: erstwhile liberal Democrats lost control of the government, they inactive had networks on which they could lean.
Populistic-right characters should now make akin networks. Persons specified as Elon Musk — which has supported western populists loudly — should establish institutions that can support these issues and candidates.
Western populism is now seen as a legal political force. common distrust on both sides of the Atlantic has been replaced by a willingness to cooperate.
The populists can take advantage of their chances.
