Political scientists talk about the “Overton window” — the range of policies that are regarded as respectable by mainstream opinion at any given time.
What politicians such as Trump, Marine Le Pen and Farage have done is to shift that window, so policies once regarded as on the extreme right have moved into the mainstream.
France’s far right would like — henceforth — to be known simply as “the right”.
One can see the logic. The Rassemblement National, the far-right party, is well ahead in the polls for fast-approaching legislative elections in France. Meanwhile the traditional right is in meltdown. If the RN becomes the largest group in the French parliament in July, the party will have redefined French conservatism.
The question of whether to rebrand the far right as the right resonates well beyond France. There is a similar issue in the US, where Donald Trump has transformed the Republican party in his own image. The traditional pro-market, internationalist party of George HW Bush barely exists today. Trump’s “America First” nativism now commands the conservative movement.
Trump and his ilk have also pushed the Overton window on attitudes to Russia and Ukraine. Here the line between a new form of conservatism and far-right authoritarianism becomes more blurry. It is possible that the likes of Trump and Le Pen want to strike a deal with Russia because they are cold-blooded isolationists who do not believe support for Ukraine is in the national interest. But their flirtation with Vladimir Putin could also reflect admiration for his authoritarianism.
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