By Citizen of Europe
Updated: July 28, 2025
“Yesterday we were the heretics, now we are the mainstream.”
— Viktor Orbán, Madrid MEGA summit, February 2025
🇪🇺 A MAGA Revival in Europe’s Election Cycle
Romania, Portugal, Poland, Germany, Austria—Europe’s far right just had its best spring ever. Drawing heavily from MAGA strategies, they’re literally wearing Trump’s cap—and winning seats:
Romania’s George Simion, branded as “Trump’s candidate,” captured nearly 46 % in the presidential race, riding a surge of Trump-inspired Euroscepticism . Portugal’s Chega now polls neck-and-neck as the second largest party ahead of the election, fueled by anti-immigration, pro-Trump rhetoric . In Poland, Karol Nawrocki narrowly clinched the presidency (50.9%) with Biden-endorsed populism and direct MAGA backing from Trump’s team .
🎯 The MAGA Import Strategy: What’s Borrowed?
European far-right parties now deploy the full MAGA toolbox:
“Make Europe Great Again” branding (Madrid summit, February 2025, attended by Orbán, Le Pen, Wilders, Abascal, Salvini) . Shared disinfo tactics across TikTok, X, Telegram: identical memes, bot networks, “fake news” claims, election denial . Transatlantic networking: CPAC in Washington and Poland as hubs for coordination—leaders from RN, AfD, Vox, Fidesz, PiS, Lega rubbing shoulders with Trump, Vance, Musk .
🗳️ Why It’s Working Now
Economic pain: Inflation, housing crunches = fertile ground for scapegoating. Cultural backlash: Anti-woke and anti-elite sentiment is mainstream. Superior digital infrastructure: European far-right now outranks centrist parties on TikTok and Telegram with viral disinfo . Elite validation: Trump, Musk, Heritage Foundation provide ideological and financial cover .
⚖️ Pushback & Limits
France’s RN treads carefully—embraces MAGA energy without overtly appearing Trumpist . Austria, Italy: despite big electoral jumps, far-right remains partially checked by mainstream coalitions . Germany: AfD soared to 20.8% of the Bundestag under similar tactics—but still ungoverned .
🔮 What’s Coming Next
2025 Midterms and EU Council votes — will MAGA-style populists gain majority influence? Digital disinfo arms race: EU considering new rules to hit meme-warfare and bot networks. Split momentum: too MAGA-aligned = domestic backlash. Too timid = loses energy.
✊ What Democrats and Liberals Must Do
Start treating TikTok/X disinfo as theatre and warfare. Build transnational alliances based on counter-narratives, fact-checking, and digital resilience. Own culture-warring space: if the far right uses influencers, so must pro-democracy voices.
Europe’s far right isn’t just repeating MAGA—they’re networked, weaponized, and electoralized.
The result? A hybrid movement that’s part domestic populism, part export of Trump’s culture war.
