Right-wing populists are thriving — even when they’re friends of Putin

Even so, right-wing populism in Hungary and elsewhere is genuinely popular. While Le Pen has taken advantage of rising inflation, castigating Macron’s government for price hikes of all kinds, her fundamental appeal comes from her strident cultural nationalism. Orban, Le Pen and others on the right constantly rail against immigrants, multiculturalism, LGBTQ rights and “le wokisme,” a new phrase that has cropped up in France.

At the same time, these leaders have cast aside much of the free-market economics of the old right. Le Pen has denounced many of Macron’s neoliberal reforms and embraced the old statist policies of the French left such as the 35-hour workweek and early retirement. She has publicly speculated that she might bring in members of the left who agree with her ideas on protectionism and industrial policy. Orban has long practiced a kind of populist statism that doles out generous state subsidies to groups his party favors.

In America, Carlson spends little time on the Ukraine war, focusing his program instead on a daily diet of outrage about woke politics and cancel culture. Leading Republicans such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis do the same. If you were to listen to the American right, you would think that the most pressing issues in the world today are school boards that are indoctrinating children with ideas about gender fluidity.