Courtesy of Mish.
In the wake of the ISIS bombings in Brussels, it did not take long for mainstream media to start an attack on anti-immigration, eurosceptic politicians.
For example, and as expected, the Financial Times blasted “populists” including Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, and Nigel Farage.
With that, I have an interesting question: Who’s greater populist, Donald Trump or Angela Merkel?
Let’s kick off the discussion with a review of the Financial Times article Populist Politicians Seize on Brussels Attacks.
.png)
Populist politicians on both sides of the Atlantic were quick to seize on the Brussels attacks.
“Time and time again I have been right about terrorism. It’s time to get tough!” said Donald Trump, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. He swiftly juxtaposed the attacks with a plea for support in Tuesday’s primaries in Arizona and Utah.
In Europe, Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right Front National, blamed the attack on “Islamist barbarism” and called for the immediate closure of the French-Belgian border. The British anti-EU UK Independence party linked the attacks to migration policy, saying the killings were “a result of Schengen free movement and lax border controls”.
For populist parties, the Brussels attacks fit a narrative about the need for stricter border control, and a more aggressive approach to Islamic communities.
More than 30 people were killed on Tuesday in a suicide attack at Brussels’ Zaventem airport and an explosion at the city’s Maalbeek metro station — which were claimed by Isis.
Ukip is particularly sensitive on the issue ahead of a June referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, where its opponents have invoked security as a reason for voting for the status quo.
For Mr Trump, whose campaign has been propelled by an anti-immigrant mood in the US, the attacks enabled a return to one of his most emotive themes.
“I would close up our borders to people until we figure out what is going on,” he told Fox News. “We are taking in people without real documentation. We don’t know where they’re coming from … they could be Isis related.”
The Brussels attack came a day after Mr Trump said in an interview that the US should play a lesser role in Nato — a view that underscores his stance as one of the most isolationist Republican frontrunners in decades. Mr Trump on Tuesday called on the US to cancel the visa-waiver programme that allows millions of people to enter the country every year without obtaining a visa.
Attack On the “Populists”
The Financial Times did not offer its solution. It merely labeled anti-immigration proponents as “populists”.
Definition of Populism
Before we can say who is or who isn’t a populist, we need to define the term.
