Perspective: Right-wing populists look poised to keep winning, writes Peter Hartcher
The leaders of the new Anglo-American political reality, Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, were not right-wing populists to begin with. They are both shrewd opportunists who have found a popular wave and ridden it to high office. It so happens to be the same wave in the US and Britain.
The second achievement of the right-wing populist movement was to become the party of government in both countries. Third was to extend their initial electoral successes to become entrenched in power. Fourth is that they are now reshaping not only politics but the real world of policy, too. Trump is about to win in the impeachment effort against him. It doesn't matter what the House of Representatives does; the Republican-dominated Senate will do everything it can to protect him.
First was the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. Second was the global financial crisis and the Great Recession that it precipitated. Third was the European refugee crisis of 2015.The Far Right Today The big difference? Right-wing populism has one extra feature – it campaigns against an ethnic or religious out-group, or immigrants in general. Trump announced his presidential bid by calling Mexicans "rapists". His "Muslim ban" soon followed. The emotional core of Brexit was not trade protectionism – post-Brexit, London is planning new free-trade agreements with the US and Australia among others.
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