The disappearing sense of shame
Sholto Byrnes
Donald Trumps former campaign manager Steve Bannon appeared at the party conference of Frances Front National (FN) over the weekend and even for a confirmed bomb-thrower, his words were inflammatory. Let them call you racists, he told the crowd. Let them call you xenophobes. Wear it as a badge of pride. The partys leader, Marine Le Pen, was most appreciative, tweeting that it was a true pleasure and an honour to listen to the man who inspired the Trump campaign in 2016.
Some might say that Mr Bannon is a wildcard who helped give a platform to the alt-right at Breitbart News. Its no surprise, then, that he should happily associate himself with a party most in Europe consider to be beyond the pale.
But Mr Bannon and the section of the American public that he represents are part of the US Republican Party mainstream now. Any who doubt that should see the rapturous welcome given to Ms Le Pens niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland last month. Anyone who aspires to hold high office as a Republican wants to speak at CPAC, the conference at which the then California governor Ronald Reagan first outlined his vision of America as a city on a hill in 1974. And there, this year, was Ms Marechal-Le Pen, alongside the US president and vice president, three cabinet secretaries, Republican stars such as Ted Cruz and John Bolton, Fox anchors Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham and the National Rifle Associations Wayne LaPierre. In short, the Republican Party is normalising extremists. And not just at CPAC. For on Mr Bannons European tour, he spoke not just to the FN; he has given advice to Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, a party that campaigns on anti-Islam and anti-immigrant rhetoric. He also expressed his delight at the success in Italys recent elections of the Lega a party whose leader, Matteo Salvini, is a close ally of Ms Le Pen and Hollands Geert Wilders.
These are, frankly, repulsive bedfellows and ones which parties of the orthodox right went out of their way to avoid in the past. When they didnt, the reaction was of horror and consequences, such as the sanctions the EU imposed on Austria in 2000 when the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) entered into a governing pact with the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (OVP). As a European Parliament resolution at the time put it: The admission of the FPO into a coalition government legitimises the extreme right in Europe. There appears, however, to have been dangerous backsliding both in Europe and in America. Last December, just such a pact was forged again in Austria, with the FPO claiming the vice chancellorship and key ministries including foreign, interior and defence. The outrage was muted until the new interior minister appeared to hint at his true colours by saying that asylum seekers should be concentrated in one place, language which many felt came too close to alluding to Nazi concentration camps. But while the FPOs leaders continue to cause controversy (and not just because of the embarrassing Nazi links that keep surfacing), their place in government has been unquestioned. What is going on with major parties of the right? The European left by and large distanced itself from Communist parties long ago. In some cases, such as Britains Labour Party, there was never any suggestion that they would cosy up to the Reds in government; indeed, Ernest Bevin, Labours post-war foreign secretary, played a key role in setting up the main anti-Soviet defence bloc Nato. And for decades, the right was clear that extremists to their far flank were also unacceptable.
The writer is a commentator
on global affairs
