By: Jan-Werner Müeller*
Let’s go back to late June and early July: the far right was the favourite in the early parliamentary elections; Trumpist judges in the United States were conveniently busy sorting out the woes of the former president, who seemed to be sliding comfortably towards victory after the disastrous performance of President Joe Biden, and while Labour was taking over in Great Britain, a new anti-immigration party, led by the promoter of Brexit, Nigel Faragehad made unprecedented progress. In the face of all this, experts warned that a wave of anti-government populist fury was sweeping over democracies around the world.
Since then, new grounds for political hope should have tempered the dire prospects cast by the commentators: not only is there little evidence of a populist wave—a metaphor that conjures up images of the inevitable rise to power of far-right parties in many countries—but recent experiences suggest feasible strategies to counteract such forces.
One lesson may sound like a truism: all parties that value democracy must unite to confront anti-democratic threats. Left-wing parties formed the New Popular Front, evoking memories of the fight against fascism in the 1930s, when the socialist leader Léon Blum He led a coalition of communists, socialists and liberals to defend the Republic.
A second lesson comes from the United States, where few anticipated the enthusiasm and jubilation with which the new Democratic candidates would be received. The current vice president Kamala Harris He presented himself masterfully as a representative of change, in opposition to both Donald Trump as the acting president, Biden; and his vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz He delighted many with comments about the Republican candidates, especially when he called the vice president proposed by Trump, JD Vance. Finally, Democrats are using the kind of tough rhetoric that the right has always used.
Of course, those who consider themselves centrists and advocate civilized dialogue are less happy; they remind Democrats that Trump’s comments Hillary Clinton The deplorables were a huge blow to the 2016 campaign. But those who condemn the term “weird” as a childish insult are mistaken; in the fight against right-wing populism, that particular epithet can be particularly effective. After all, when they claim to speak for “real people” or the “silent majority,” right-wing populists are portraying themselves as representatives of normality. In Germany, one of the slogans of the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland is: Germany, but normal.
Anti-populists should focus their rhetorical attacks on populist leaders, rather than their supporters. Vance It is “weird” because it is obsessed with controlling women’s bodies and punishing those who do not have children. Far-right populists who claim to represent the silent majority actually represent a vocal minority. There is nothing wrong with that – many progressive movements began that way – but movements that claim to speak for the majority while vilifying everyone else are a threat to democracy.
Anti-populists should acknowledge that majorities do not, in fact, support far-right populist forces; the first weeks of the Labour government in power confirmed this healthy wisdom: the country suffered the worst riots in more than a decade as misinformation fueled racist violence. True, the “there are more of us!” argument – a slogan coined by German anti-populist protesters – has its limits. Although the right falsely claims to have a monopoly on normality, the truth is that far-right parties are being normalised as more centre-right politicians copy their rhetoric or form coalitions with them.
To those who walk the streets campaigning for Harris They will ask you what you really propose, beyond offering yourself as an alternative to the strangeness of Trump-VanceThe question is legitimate and anti-populists will have to offer a good answer.
*Professor of Politics at Princeton University
