It's easy — too easy — to get caught up in the day's kerfuffle and lose track of the big picture.
On Sunday, September 6, the AfD — Germany's populist party — won a resounding victory in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. AfD's candidates took 38 of 41 direct districts; the CDU took none. (German voters cast two votes. The second vote still parked 15 CDU members in the chamber.) AfD holds 39 of 83 seats, three short of running the state alone.
Related: Germany Votes Right, and the Press Reaches for 1945
But that's just one example. In France, Marine Le Pen’s RN — the Le Pen family firm, the right-wing name Americans have known the longest — is close to the presidency.
In Austria, the FPÖ won 57 of 183 seats and is now the largest party.
Related: Spanish Leftists' Push to Replace 'Right-Wingers and Racists' With Migrants: Is It Full Speed Ahead?
In Spain, Vox, which split from the PP, is already in power as a junior partner — not nationally, but in four autonomous communities — and is polling high enough that a PP government would need it in a coalition — but the PP has spent years trying not to need it. Factor into that Pedro Sánchez's ethics troubles and the Ceuta migrant surge, and Vox looks good.
Beyond that, Sanae Takaichi in Japan became prime minister and then, in a sudden and risky snap election, won a supermajority in the Diet. In South and Central America, Milei — a libertarian populist — won in Argentina and is being successful; Bukele in El Salvador has massively reduced crime; and Laura Fernández recently won an election in Costa Rica.
And then there's Trump.
While their positions aren't carbon copies, there are a lot of similarities: controlling immigration; economic growth through cheaper energy and, in Europe, less Brussels; free(er) enterprise; cutting taxes (with varying details).
Against them are the entrenched current parties.
Related: Populist Players in Europe — Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)
In Germany, they talk about the Brandmauer, the firewall. A bigger issue is that parts of the Berlin establishment, most loudly the Greens, want the AfD banned as a threat to the constitutional order. The ruling Union will not file the case; it would rather keep the party legal, frozen out of office, and — if Magdeburg actually governs — subject to federal supervision.
France's election system is a two-round presidential system. The anti-RN pact is the front républicain, using withdrawals and tactical votes to cling to power — along with what we call "lawfare" directed against Le Pen; the effect is similar.
FPÖ and Vox are the closest to national power. Vox in particular is a junior partner to the PP in Andalucía, Aragón, Castilla y León, and Extremadura. It looks well-positioned to take a national voice in coalition with the PP.
Of course, we're already familiar with the ways that the former ruling coalitions and the unelected bureaucracy — the "Deep State" — have tried, and are still trying, to keep Trump under control.
Some of the populist movements are in power, but Europe's old core still treats a first-place finish as a problem to be managed.
To save democracy.
Editor's Note: Populism — the People — are on the march, in the US and around the world, and the legacy media are trying everything to not let you know.
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