Marching to the right, Trump-style

Authoritarian reshaping of society

In the US, the Trump administration is pushing ahead with alarming policies: establishing authoritarian structures, reshaping society and, in the medium to long term, even turning towards fascism in America – with the full force of Trump’s considerable powers. A very recent example is the President’s attempt to silence any criticism of Charlie Kirk, a far-right agitator who was assassinated on September 10th. Kirk had argued that women of colour were “intellectually inferior” and that abortions were explicitly “worse than the holocaust”. Trump’s success in attracting younger voters in the last election was partly down to Kirk’s propaganda network. Trump has just had a liberal TV presenter fired because he addressed the Charlie Kirk murder without due reverence. By making an example of one popular critic, Trump hopes to intimidate liberals in the media and push them out of the public eye.[1] He has been attacking a growing number of media outlets – including influential publications like the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times – with multi-billion law suits. A new initiative involves the banning of news reports based on research into the Pentagon that has not been approved by the government.[2] It will make the publication of critical articles on the US military impossible. Prominent opponents of the president have been saying for some time that Trump will prevent free elections in future. It would mean there will no longer be a way of removing him from office by democratic means.[3]

Antifascism designated as ‘terrorism’

In the past week, two EU governments have made a start at explicitly adopting Trump’s authoritarian initiative. They have announced plans to integrate a Trump-style legal clamp-down in domestic legislation. The idea is to designate antifascists – in particular those in the diverse and decentralised “Antifa” movement – as members of a terrorist organisation. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared he is “pleased” at Trump’s announcement on Thursday: “In Hungary, too, the time has come for us to classify organisations such as Antifa as terrorist organisations, following the American model.”[4] In the Hungarian capital, Budapest, antifascist groups have, for instance, regularly demonstrated against an annual march by fascists to commemorate the role of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS in fighting Soviet forces.[5] On Thursday, the majority of the Dutch Parliament supported a motion submitted by far-right politician Geert Wilders (Partij voor de Vrijheid, PVV) to require the government to, likewise, designate “Antifa” as a terrorist organisation.[6] The motion could only succeed with votes from various other parties, including the ruling VVD (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie), from which NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hails.

‘Fascist methods’

Calls to prohibit antifascist organisations, or at least to impede their activities, are also becoming louder in other EU countries. In Austria, for example, the “security spokesperson’” for the far-right FPÖ, Gernot Darmann, demands in Trumpian manner that, “This leftist swamp must be drained.”[7] He is referring to the “anyone who can be even, in small part, linked to the Antifa spectrum or left extremist scene.” In Belgium, the president of the governing party Mouvement réformateur (MR), Georges-Louis Bouchez, also wants to adopt the Trump model by instructing the authorities to “break up Antifa structures”. His party will work “at governmental and parliamentary level” to this end, declares Bouchez. He accuses “Antifa” explicitly being “a structure using fascist methods”.[8] In Germany, politicians from the AfD also argue for the antifascist movement to be classified as “terrorist”. In fact, AfD members of the European Parliament began proposing this course many years ago in parliamentary initiatives. Today, AfD Bundestag deputy Alexander Wolf writes in social media, “Donald Trump Wants to move against Antifa ... Very good!” Dario Seifert, a colleague of Wolf’s in the AfD Bundestag group, also insists on social media that Trump’s clamp-down should serve as a model for Germany and Europe: “Antifa must be designated a terrorist group!”

Strongest party

The AfD is raising this demand at a time when polls show record approval ratings for the party and its role as a potential coalition partner is being reconsidered. A YouGov survey published on 17 September saw the AfD narrowly overtaking the CDU/CSU to become the strongest party on 27 per cent (CDU/CSU: 26 per cent). An INSA poll published on 20 September also shows the AfD (26 per cent) just ahead of the CDU/CSU (25 per cent).[9] As for Social Democracy, the SPD lies far behind, polling at just 15 per cent. In the state of Saxony-Anhalt the AfD has a huge base, now reaching 39 per cent in opinion surveys. Its candidate for the role of state premier, Ulrich Siegmund, is eyeing a majority in the state election next September with which he could dispense with coalition partners.[10] In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany’s most populous state, there are three cities – Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Hagen – where AfD candidates did so well in last week’s local elections that they are now competing in run-offs for mayoral office.

‘Other majorities possible’

At the same time we are seeing a widening debate on the AfD’s inclusion in governing coalitions – possibly even at federal level. The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, which is politically close to the Christian Democrats, has reported that politicians in the CDU and CSU, indeed some of its “leaders” are expressing, behind closed doors, the view that the AfD cannot be left out in the cold for ever, “at least” not when it comes to organisational issues like “the appointments to positions as committee chairs.[11] Two weeks ago, Carina Hermann, a member of the CDU’s national committee, declared in an executive meeting that if the SPD failed to support the slashing of welfare provision desired by the CDU/CSU ministers then “other majorities would be possible” in the Bundestag.[12] In an infuriated response, Karl-Josef Laumann, minister for social affairs in NRW and deputy national CDU chair, didn't reaffirm the standard position that working with the extreme right to secure majorities is still unthinkable for the Christian Union. Laumann warned instead of the consequences if his party would cooperate with the AfD: “Lots would leave the party, and I would, too.”[13]

Violence

The swing to the far right across Europe is not only the result of politicians copying Trump. Rather, the Trump administration and its political base are actively driving this development (german-foreign-policy.com has reported [14]). Trump’s influence on European politics has now reached a point where some interventions can even be understood as a call for violence. Trump’s former aide Elon Musk appeared on a video screen to address a march of up to 150,000 right-wing extremists on 13 September in London. He called not only for the dissolution of parliament and a change of government in the UK, but also told his audience that with rising immigration “violence will come to you”.[15] Musk continued, “Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die. That’s the truth.” Among the potentially 150,000-strong demonstration there were plenty who are ready to use violence.

[1] Natalie Andrews, Aaron Zitner: In Kimmel Suspension, Trump Campaign Against Critics Escalates. wsj.com 18.09.2025.

[2] Ken Bensinger: Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access. nytimes.com 20.09.2025.

[3] Melanie Mason, Dustin Gardiner: Gavin Newsom: ‘I don‘t think Donald Trump wants another election’. politico.com 27.08.2025.

[4] Gábor Tanács, Gavin Blackburn: PM Viktor Orbán follows Trump and says Hungary will designate antifa a terrorist organisation. euronews.com 19.09.2025.

[5] See: Die Spitze eines braunen Eisberges.

[6] Carlos Robles: Dutch parliament adopts motion to classify antifa as a terrorist organization. bnonews.com 18.09.2025.

[7] FPÖ – Darmann: „Realitätsverweigerung der Justizministerin ist Schutz für Linksextremismus!“ ots.at 21.09.2025.

[8] Caroline Vandenabeele: Georges-Louis Bouchez menace de “dissoudre les Antifa” : pourquoi ce n’est pas si simple. rtbf.be 19.09.2025.

[9] Sprung auf Rekordwert – AfD zieht in YouGov-Umfrage erstmals an der Union vorbei. welt.de 17.09.2025.

[10] AfD strebt Alleinregierung an. deutschlandfunk.de 07.09.2025.

[11] Eckart Lohse: Adenauer-Stiftung warnt CDU vor Zusammenarbeit mit AfD. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 19.09.2025.

[12], [13] Florian Kain: CDU-Minister droht mit Parteiaustritt. bild.de 10.09.2025.

[14] See: Die transatlantische extreme Rechte (III) and „Vom Trump-Tornado lernen“.

[15] Haroon Siddique: What did Elon Musk say at far-right UK rally and did his remarks break the law? theguardian.com 15.09.2025.