Whatever Donald Trump touches, he destroys. It can be people, institutions or ideas – the result is always the same. His empty smile beckons them in, but his handshake has the taint of death.
We’ve seen him ruin the reputation of countless Republicans. We’ve seen him degrade and destroy American constitutional standards and legal integrity. Now, in the Middle East, he is destroying the US’s reputation abroad. What was once a great military power looks weak, ineffectual, isolated and insane.
In Europe, we are seeing that process play out electorally, with the parties which associated themselves with the US president. The right-wing leaders who lined up to worship at his throne are now facing the consequences.
This is not the narrative we’ve been sold. We’re told that liberal democracy is buckling. Presidents and prime ministers wait in line to pay fealty to Trump, the goblin king of a dark new world order. The White House pumps money and political support to hard-right figures in Europe, aiming to undermine the European Union from within.
And for a while, things really did seem to be following that pattern. In the 2024 European Parliament elections, pro-EU liberal parties suffered losses while anti-EU populist-right parties made gains. In the Czech Republic last year, a populist-right government took power. In Poland, the populist-right candidate Karol Nawrocki secured the presidency. In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally led in the polls. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was biting at the heels of Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Then Trump launched the war in Iran and things began to change.
The first hint came earlier this month in Spain, during regional elections in Castilla y León. The governing Socialist party was expected to suffer a humiliating defeat, having recently been battered in Extremadura and Aragón. Exit polls suggested it would face its worst result in the region since elections were first held in 1983.
But Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez enjoyed one under-appreciated quality. He is an outspoken opponent of the US President. In the wake of the war and with fears of a consequent rise in fuel prices, the party made this a key part of the campaign. It consequently defied the polls and picked up two seats. The ultra-nationalist Vox party, which supported the war, had been expected to perform strongly. Instead, it came in under expectations.
In France, the far-right National Rally was expected to use its inevitable triumph in municipal elections this week as proof-of-concept for an attempt to win the presidential election next year. And in certain areas, the party performed well, taking smaller southern cities and towns such as Carcassonne, Menton, and Cagnes-sur-Mer.
But it failed to secure the chief prize. Marseille, France’s second-largest city, stayed in the hands of the Socialist party. Nor could it secure other key targets, like Toulon or Nîmes. French President Emmanuel Macron managed to consolidate his position in Bordeaux and centrist alliances were bolstered in places like Toulouse and Angers.
In Italy, Trump ally Giorgia Meloni seemed unassailable just days ago. As part of her effort to entrench her control of the country, the Italian Prime Minister initiated a referendum on reform of the judiciary, which she brands left-wing and politicised – a friend of “immigrants, rapists, pedophiles, drug dealers”. Everyone expected her to win. Instead, she was humiliated.
Meloni initiated a referendum on reform of the Italian judiciary. Her proposals were rejected by 54 per cent (Photo: Valentina Stefanelli/LaPresse/AP)Her proposals were rejected by 54 per cent on a high turnout. The result was particularly brutal in the major cities: Rome, Milan and Naples. This was not just about judicial reform. It was treated as a public vote of confidence in her leadership. Suddenly, she looks vulnerable. Opposition parties have a newfound sense of momentum and energy.
In Slovenia, right-winger Janez Janša’s Slovenian Democratic Party looked likely to unseat Prime Minister Robert Golob’s liberal Freedom Movement. This would have ushered in a dangerous new moment for the EU, with another fierce anti-European leader able to team up with Hungary’s Viktor Orban. Instead, Golob managed to hold on, clinging to power and halting the populist wave.
This week’s elections in Denmark saw Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s centre-left Social Democrats suffer a brutal and humbling result, but not the existential one which she had once feared.
Her party has been under fire on numerous fronts, facing viable challenges from the left and right. Then Trump came along with his threats to invade Greenland. Frederiksen’s opposition to the US President saw her surge in the polls and prompted her to hold a snap election. That gamble ultimately paid off – just about. She emerged battered and bruised but with a viable path to retaining power for a third term.
We can’t be overly optimistic here. It’s not like populism is about to recede. Most of these results are tight and tenuous. Each of them takes place amid countless domestic factors, making it hard to extrapolate a single lesson.
But the rise of populism is predicated on a sense of inevitability, on the notion that you simply cannot stop its inexorable advance. The results this week show that this is false.
The populists’ connection to Trump, which they embraced so confidently in 2025, has proved to be a vulnerability in 2026. You can even see that in the UK, with Nigel Farage’s Reform falling in the polls and Keir Starmer acting like he has a spring in his step.
The really pivotal battle for Europe takes place next month, on 12 April, when Orban stands for re-election in Hungary. He is the heart of European right-wing populism. For decades now, he has taken control of his country’s civic life and strangled its freedom of speech. He has worked to undermine the EU from within. He has worked diligently to neutralise efforts to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has served as the European lodestar to Trump’s White House.
Now, the polls suggest he can be beaten. The global populist right has thrown everything they can at it to keep him in power. Trump is issuing daily endorsements. Le Pen, Meloni and even Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have piled in to help him.
They all know. They recognise the danger. If Orban is brought down, people will see just how vulnerable the far-right project truly is. They will realise that it is beatable.
This week showed it. And with any luck, next month’s Hungarian elections will prove it. Trump kills everything he touches. Hopefully, that will include the global far-right movement, which he leads.
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