European countries, unlike the U.S., have accepted thousands of refugees from places like Syria and Libya. A backlash has developed in Hungary, Poland, Austria, and other countries. So-called “populist movements” and neo-fascists are doing their best to undermine the democratic consensus.
So what does Trump do? He praises the neo-fascists. “The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition,” he tweeted, and claimed, falsely, that crime had risen in Germany as a result of immigrants.
In the past I’ve had little patience for people who drag Hitler into a political discussion, but in this case it fits. Try to imagine President Franklin Roosevelt praising the Nazi Party in Germany in the early Thirties before it came to power. What Trump is doing is the equivalent of that.
See Patrick Kingsley, “Europe Allies, Grip Slipping, Get U.S. Shove, New York Times (June 19, 2018), pp. A-1, A-8.
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