Why populist world leaders are fearing a Trump election loss – By Holly Ellyatt (CNBC) / Oct 12 2020
- The upcoming U.S. election is being keenly watched by leaders around the world who share Trump’s political ethos.
- If he fails at the election, political experts believe other leaders who espouse similarly populist politics could see their own political fortunes change.
- Trump’s election in 2016 was the pinnacle of a populist surge that swept radical and anti-establishment leaders to power.
The upcoming U.S. election is being keenly watched by world leaders who have looked to President Donald Trump for favor and friendship, and who share his political ethos.
If he fails at the election, political experts believe other leaders who espouse similarly populist politics — from Matteo Salvini, who leads Italy’s anti-immigration Lega party, to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi — could see their own political fortunes change, and that a populist surge that swept such radical and anti-establishment leaders to power across the world, including Trump, could wane.
“Trump, as the populist leader of the world’s only superpower, is the greatest populist ally one could have, and so his possible defeat in the November presidential election will certainly be a massive blow to populist governments around the world that rely on either overt or tacit support by the Trump administration,” Erin Kristin Jenne, professor of International Relations at Central European University in Vienna, told CNBC.
“Populist leaders seek to alter their country’s status in the international order by challenging systemic constraints, and they need allies to do this,” she added.
Continue to article: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/12/us-election-how-trumps-elections-chances-affect-populist-politics.html
