The 'Trump Tornado' Hits Europe as Right-wing Parties Surge and Elites Struggle to Stop Them

It was clear from Vice President JD Vance's speech to NATO allies in Munich last week that at least politically, Western Europe and the United States under Donald Trump are moving away from each other. 

Vance took European leaders to task over rampant state-supported censorship in many European nations. 

"The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia, it's not China...what I worry about is the threat from within; the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America," the Vice President said.

PHOTO: U.S. Vice-President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meet with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a bilateral meeting at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

And while Vance simply defended free speech, some of the liberal European elites in his audience saw it as giving aid and comfort to their political enemies on the European Right.

Those parties are becoming a major force. In Germany on Sunday, the right-wing party, AfD, Alternative for Germany is expected to finish second in national elections. Their rise has been fueled by an economic crisis and disastrous open borders policy which led to last week's Munich car attack by a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker, killing a mother and her 2-year-old daughter while injuring at least 37. 

Regardless of how well AfD does in the vote count, Germany's other parties have vowed to keep it out of any coalition government. 

PHOTO: Left-wing protesters demonstrate against the growth of a right-wing political party, in Hanover, Germany, Feb. 8, 2025. (Moritz Frankenberg/dpa via AP)

This comes after Romania annulled its presidential election when a right-wing candidate won the vote. 

Vance addressed the issue of European elites trying to keep right-wing parties out of power. 

"We shouldn't be afraid of our people, even when they express views that disagree with their leadership," Vance said. "If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people that elected me and elected President Trump."

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A seismic political shift was already under way in many West European nations. Now, with the reelection of Donald Trump, the movement has become even more energized. 

What one European leader calls 'The Trump Tornado' has struck Europe. 

"The elites, they've been shaken up by the election of Trump. They really feel that, you know, they're next," says Frank Furedi, executive director of the think tank MCC Brussels. "A lot of people are demanding that they be heard, they're looking for a voice. There is a growing sense that the old mainstream parties have lost the trust and the connection with the public."

Many British and European citizens feel they have become poorer and less free. Eurozone growth has stagnated under climate change regulations, and the average E.U. nation would now qualify as one of the poorest states in the U.S. 

Germany, once among the world's strongest economies, is now 'de-industrializing' to meet radical green energy goals; what the Wall Street Journal has called the "World's Dumbest Energy Policy."

PHOTO: Left-wing protesters clashed with police as anti-right-wing alliances demonstrated in Hamburg-Harburg on January 26, 2025. (Photo by: Georg Wendt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

German economist and Journalist Sabine Beppler-Spahl says Germans see their falling standard of living and want a leader who will do something about it.

Beppler-Spahl told us, "There is a very strong mood within a large sector of German population for very fundamental changes, for real change. And who say 'too many mistakes have been made. We see what is happening to the country. This is serious.'"
 
If Trump's term is successful and Europe falls even farther behind the U.S. economically, it's likely to put even more pressure on European elites as they try to keep right-wing parties out of power.