Yeah, I know. Domestic not foreign, but so perfect.
Back during the last election in Canada the Conservatives had a huge lead in the polls. Then Trump started attacking Canada: tariffs and threats of annexation and lots of shit-talk about how Canada wasn’t a real country, was completely dependent on the US, was taking advantage, etc, etc…
Poilievre, the Conservative leader, didn’t condemn this. He even agreed somewhat.
And Carney (a neoliberal scumbag, but a smart and competent one) came out hard against Trump, defended Canada rhetorically, and won an election he should never have stood a chance in.
In Korea the right are pro-American symps. Many European right wing parties are as well, though others are figuring out, finally, that it’s bad politics.
Not all right wingers fall for this, of course. Doug Ford, the Premier of Canada, and a corrupt right wing bastard if there’s ever been, immediately fired back, took US liquor off the shelves and generally told Trump to go to Hell.
I think the issue here is whether the right wingers are alphas or betas. The classic fascist personality is kick down, kiss up. Those are the people who love Trump, especially overseas. They want to feel strong, so they identify with the strong.
Alpha right wingers, on the other hand, when pushed, push back as hard as they can. Someone challenges them, and they don’t bow unless forced to. Doug Ford’s a jerk, but he isn’t fundamentally a coward. To him being strong means being strong against everyone, and knowing that you don’t back down because that makes you look weak.
Poilievre: fundamentally a follower. Ford: a bastard who’ll kick up or down. Oh he’s corrupt and evil and takes care of his cronies, for sure. But he isn’t a wimp.
Too many politicians in American satrapies are wimps. Their idea of being powerful is being chosen by America as the leader of a weak state, doing what they’re told, and being King over their own countrymen.
This, fundamentally, means they aren’t strong: not psychologically or in fact.
A strong right winger wants to rule a strong country which doesn’t have to do what other countries tell it to. They don’t want to be subject kings.
Heck, a strong ruler of any ideology wants a strong country and to chart their own course, not be a lackey.
Europe and most of the Asian satrapies (Japan is particularly obsequious) are ruled by weak politicians. Weak men and women. It’s just especially embarassing on the right because one of the right’s fundamental promises is “I’m strong. We’re strong! You’re lead by a strong person.”
Pathetic.
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Jan Wiklund
Nationalism has always been a trick played by those who haven’t any other card to play. Wasn’t it Samuel Johnson who said that nationalism is the last resort for a scoundrel?
And kissing the bully’s ass is not only a habit of the “wimps” – don’t we all, when we do as the boss tells us?
The real test is, however, when politicians present themselves as defending our interests when they in reality defend somebody elses, be it Trump or some “national” businessmen. It seems that most politicians do that nowadays, whatever they call themselves.