"We need to stay away from him." European far-right turns away from Trump

Donald Trump. Photo: Alex Brandon-Pool / Getty Images

Trump has become politically toxic even for his closest ideological allies in Europe, writes Politico.

"We need to stay away from him," Marine Le Pen told her party members at a meeting of deputies from France's National Rally on Tuesday, a senior party official present at the meeting told the publication.

An additional factor was Trump's attack on Pope Leo XIV. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was perhaps the last European leader trying to maintain good relations with Trump, but she decided to abandon them when he shifted his attacks from the Pope to her.

"Meloni was looking for an excuse to distance herself from Trump, and his direct attack gave her that opportunity," Lorenzo Castellani, a research fellow at Rome's LUISS University, told Bloomberg. "Attacks on the Pope and economic uncertainty [in Italy] likely changed calculations regarding the viability of an alliance with him."

Earlier, Trump praised Meloni, calling her a "wonderful young woman" who "took Europe by storm." But during a meeting on Tuesday, he lashed out at her for refusing to support the war in Iran and for her statements in support of the Pope. On Sunday, Trump criticized the pontiff, who called for peace, and called him "weak on crime and terrible on foreign policy issues."

Meloni unequivocally deemed such words "unacceptable." She told reporters:

"If you have allies, and especially if they are strategic allies, you must have the courage to express your disagreement. I would be uncomfortable in a society where religious leaders do as political leaders tell them."

In response, Trump told the Corriere della Sera newspaper:

"I am shocked by her behavior. I thought she was brave, but I was wrong."

Given that right-wing and far-right parties often adhere to conservative religious values, and in a situation where European voters largely blame the US president for the conflict in the Middle East and rising energy prices, distancing from Trump is becoming a matter of political expediency.

"Orbán's defeat cannot be explained solely by voter fatigue," a senior official from France's National Rally told Politico. "Under current conditions, proximity to the United States was not popular with Hungarian voters."

To increase its chances of winning the French presidential elections in 2027, the National Rally will try to avoid associations with the Trump administration.

"Close ties with Washington can become a burden and be misinterpreted," said one of Le Pen's closest allies. "We respect our friends in Washington, but we don't want them telling us what to do."

Similarly, the position of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) has begun to change, especially in light of the regional elections scheduled for September.

"A show of friendship" between Budapest and Washington, including Vance's speech at a rally in support of Orbán, "hung around [the Hungarian leader's] neck like a millstone," AfD MP Matthias Moosdorf wrote on X.

In late March, AfD leader Alice Weidel instructed faction leaders in the Bundestag to reduce the number of trips by party leaders to the US, which had been planned to strengthen ties with Republicans from Trump's MAGA ("America First") movement.

Even Britain's Nigel Farage, founder of the Reform UK party, who previously compared Trump to Churchill, became more reserved in a recent interview with the Financial Times:

"I knew him a little, but that's it."

Trump's supporters in Europe are losing the benefits of an alliance with him, says Beniamina Irdi, director of the consulting firm Highground:

"To maintain strong ties with the US, you need benefits that they are no longer willing to provide, such as predictability and reliable security defense."

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