Illiberal elite sends show of strength from Europe

The incoming president has invited a hotchpotch of conservative figures appearing to reflect Trump’s ambition to set himself at the head of a pan-western revolt against the liberal elite.

Liz Truss, the former UK prime minister, is in Washington for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Picture: X

From Liz Truss and Giorgia Meloni to a co-leader of the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Donald Trump’s inauguration will be a rare collective show of strength from Europe’s anti-establishment establishment.

Trump’s ambition to set himself at the head of a pan-western revolt against the liberal elite is reflected in an unorthodox list of foreign guests that ranges from conservatives to the outer fringes of the populist right.

While there is a degree of ambiguity about who has been “officially” invited and who is simply travelling to Washington under their own steam, the contingent from Europe appears to reflect Trump’s project to forge a kind of motley right-wing Internationale.

This mixture of insiders and outsiders is embodied by the visitors from Britain: Truss and Suella Braverman of the Tories, alongside Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Laurence Fox, the former actor.

Nigel Farage will also attend Trump’s swearing in as president. Picture: X

It is hard to discern a coherent logic in the invitations beyond the haywire mechanics of shadow diplomacy as Europe’s parties and governments vie for influence in the new White House.

🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/PPp3fmcPlj

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) January 17, 2025

The sole European national leader in attendance is likely to be Meloni, Italy’s radical right-wing prime minister, who has lavished praise on Trump and is positioning herself as the main interface between Brussels and the incoming US administration. Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally, France’s largest right-wing populist party, did not receive an invitation, but her niece Marion Marechal, an MEP for a smaller rival party called Reconquete, did.

Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, will be the only European national leader at Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Picture: AFP

The other politicians on the list are a hotchpotch from the various families of the European right. Meloni’s ideological group is sending a sizeable delegation, expected to include Mateusz Morawiecki, the former Polish premier; Eric Zemmour, the Reconquete leader; and George Simion, head of the hard-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians.

Notionally a step further to the right, the Patriots for Europe faction will be represented by Santiago Abascal, who leads the Spanish Vox party, and Andre Ventura, his Portuguese counterpart.

https://t.co/ddD5er3Vrd

— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) January 19, 2025

The guests from Germany are similarly heterogeneous. Alice Weidel, the AfD’s candidate for the chancellorship and protegee of Elon Musk, declined an invitation, pleading the pressures of the Bundestag election. Instead, the AfD will send Tino Chrupalla, her co-leader.

The inauguration will also be attended by Jurgen Hardt, the veteran foreign policy spokesman for the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is closing in on a return to power and eager to establish a working relationship with the Trump camp.

However, the widespread reservations about Trump in Berlin were summarised at the weekend in a leaked diplomatic cable from Andreas Michaelis, the departing German ambassador to Washington. Trump, Michaelis wrote to the foreign ministry, was out for revenge, ready to “undermine . . . basic principles of democracy”, constrain his opponents’ right to free speech and “effectively abolish the independence” of the criminal justice system.

The Times