The Liberal Democratic Party of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi had a resounding victory in her country’s elections over the past weekend. The conservative Takaichi, who called early elections quickly after becoming prime minister, shocked domestic and foreign observers by winning the largest majority in Japan’s history, over two-thirds of the lower house of Japan’s parliament. Takaichi’s victory came after, though not entirely due to, an endorsement by President Donald Trump. The prime minister thanked Trump for his endorsement as well as his congratulatory message after the victory.
Takaichi’s victory could well reshape Japanese politics and – thanks to her two-thirds majority –lead to constitutional changes, including the creation of a Japanese armed forces. But it is also yet more proof of an entirely different phenomenon: The growth of the pro-Trump populist-right across the world.
This is a phenomenon which, until Japan’s elections, had been stubbornly denied by “experts” around the globe. After President Trump’s tariffs went into effect last year, his endorsement became “the kiss of death” to European populist-right parties, according to one analysis. NPR used election results in Canada and Australia as an example of Trump’s policies hurting like-minded parties there. And in late December, Politico ran a piece highlighting how Trump’s endorsement divided Europe’s “far-right.”
These examples, particularly the latter two, are extremely flawed.
Politico’s example of how Europe’s far-right was split was essentially a case study highlighting how the German AfD was supportive of Trump and happy to have his endorsement, whereas the French National Rally was more sceptical. That’s it. That was the entirety of the piece, which Politico’s editors somehow used to justify the headline “Trump’s backing splits European far right.”
Firstly, there are literally dozens more “far right” parties across Europe, including those which actually are in power, like staunch Trump allies Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán; picking two parties, the AfD and the National Rally – neither of which have ever held power – to represent the entirety of European politics smacks of purposefully misleading the audience. Secondly, the French are famously America sceptics, no matter what political stripe.
Using the Canadian and Australian elections likewise betrays a lack of understanding of what happened there. In both countries, incumbent left-wing governments won over right-wing opposition. Both oppositions had been polling fairly well, particularly so in Canada, where the Conservatives had looked set for victory. Yes, this was partially due to Trump’s tariffs – but that does not lend support to the notion that Trump hurts the populist-right.
Here’s why. Nationalists are going to put their country’s interests first. This is a simply fact of nationalism. Canada had an objectively unfair tariff system, particularly when it came to their dairy products; ditto the European Union and their auto industry, which for a long period had significantly higher tariffs than America did. If America was ever going to attempt to force the issue of fair trade with other countries, those other countries were inevitably going to feel impacted, some (like Canada, which long had a smug idea of superiority to America while relying on America for its existence) more than others.
However, nationalists and patriots also understand the concept of national interest. It doesn’t send them into screaming fits like it does liberal internationalists. Take the aforementioned Meloni, who has publicly critiqued some of Trump’s moves while underlining that she understands that the United States will act in its interests, even going as far as to urge other European leaders to keep their criticisms quiet.
Plus, when you break it down by age, a trend emerges. Take Canada’s polling: The Liberal Party is doing extremely well, but entirely off the backs of pensioners. The young overwhelmingly vote Conservative. This same phenomenon – stronger youth support for right-wing parties – appeared in Japan’s recent elections, where the youngest voters most strongly supported Takaichi. The only people who are truly upset about Trump’s commentaries and actions – or are at least upset enough to abandon their own populist-right parties – are the aged who are glued to traditional media and rely on pension systems, the existence of which depend entirely upon not having to spend money on defence.
After all, take the United Kingdom, where Reform has led for nearly a year. Every single British voter understands that Nigel Farage is close with President Trump; the former attends as many American events as he can. They just don’t care, because their domestic situation has become so untenable that it overrides any discontent they may have with America’s leadership. The same goes for Austria; there the populist-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) as led for over three years. A voter who has finally turned toward the FPÖ due to multiple different migrant gang rape stories is not going to turn back to the Left because Trump posted something shocking online.
These arguments also discount the number of places where the populist-right is leading in Europe and around the world. The “hard right” just topped a pan-European poll for the first time ever. Poland’s now-President Karol Nawrocki, a proud nationalist, won after endorsements from Trump. Czechia’s government also shifted hard to the Right, months after Trump’s tariffs. Meloni in Italy has not taken any polling hits for being friendly with Trump, and the German AfD started 2026 with polling showing that it remains Germany’s most popular party. Now, Japan has joined the list of countries with populistic leaders who received Trump’s support and suffered nary a vote lost.
Any pan-Western civilisational alliance, or global grouping of populist-right parties and individuals, is going to butt heads. That is the nature of putting one’s own country first. But President Trump putting America first is not going to cause the citizens of other countries to reject doing the same for themselves.
New START is dead — good riddance