In less than a week Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States. This is the reality we now face, and it has been immensely dispiriting to tens of millions of Americans. But we should remember, as we brace for the Trump presidency, that much of the rest of the world is still fighting the battle we just lost.
In France a presidential election will be held in April of 2017 that will pit a host of candidates against each other in a confused and convoluted election. The most Trump-like candidate is Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front. She will likely be opposed by Francois Fillon, a more traditional right-wing ideologue who wishes to gut social spending and re-impose traditional Catholic values. French leftists may be left with a choice that makes left wing complaints about Hillary Clinton look petty, but if they make the right decision France will be saved from what has befallen the United States. Fillon may be right wing, but as democrats pining for the days of George W. Bush will attest, there are worse things than an honest, patriotic reactionary.
In Austria, one of the few recent victories for liberalism, the Trump-like Freedom Party was defeated by the Green Party Candidate and former economics professor Alexander Van Der Bellen. However, Austria will have parliamentary elections in the coming year that seem likely to deliver a strong support for the extreme right.
In Italy, a ranting former clown named Beppe Grillo has started a populist, if incoherent, left wing alternative to the mainstream party. On the right, the ultra-nationalist Northern League has publicly declared an alliance with Trump, Vladimir Putin and a host of neo-fascist parties. This broad collection of racists and nut-cases is opposed by a reasonable, liberal centrist government that, with luck, will retain power.
In Germany, an alliance of reasonable moderates have kept Chancellor Angela Merkel in power for the past decade. She is likely to win another term but is opposed by a far-right xenophobic party called the “Alternative for Germany.” Opponents of Trump should hope that Merkel retains power and continues to stand against Russia and hold together the European Union.
In Russia itself, Trump’s most dangerous ally Vladimir Putin has continued to oppress his people, arrest dissidents, destroy political opposition and amass immense wealth. Putin has also made a habit of killing dissidents in ever more creative ways, ranging from faked suicides to radioactive poisoning. Neither this vile oppression nor a fixation with invading foreign countries will change the reality that Russia is a backwards petro-state with a population that is literally (if slowly) dying of old age and alcoholism. Any opposition, whether demographic or democratic, that succeeds in weakening Putin should be joyously celebrated by Trump opponents.
Today, Trumpism seems ascendant across the globe; but everywhere a Trump-like figure has risen an opposition that represents a decent, honest, left-wing politics stands ready to oppose them. In the United States we should remember that as we fight Trump and all that he stands for, we are far from alone.
