The site of President Trump signing executive orders on stage at the Capital One Arena after just being inaugurated, was a complete juxtaposition. Amid the MAGA celebration lap and for all his pitfalls Trump has been able to achieve one thing – he has made the process of passing legislation, one of the most tedious aspects of government, look sexy.
The atmosphere was electric, charged with celebration and defiance. Cheers erupted— leaving the Paris Climate Agreement, rejecting DEI “wokeness”—a victory lap for a movement revelling in its triumph. The scene felt more like theatre than politics, a chaotic spectacle signalling a radical shift. The next four years promise to redefine the very nature of governance, stripping politics of its role as a space for debate and transforming it into a blunt instrument for a cabal to impose its will.
Those at the top of the MAGA movement have come to espouse an almost divine belief that what happens is prophetic – for this is how it must be done. This is how we win and in turn America.
The past eight years have seen the zone flooded with so much shit, that those with ulterior motives have become shielded from exposure. The light has, to no real success, rarely been shone on the fulcrum of their right-wing thesis. The recitation of such vociferous and divisive rhetoric is not believed to be for the greater good but spouted solely to achieve their aims. The MAGA camp may project an image of collective unity, the broadest coalition in American electoral history. Still, the disparity between those at the top and those at the bottom has never been starker.
The process of political desensitisation has been completed. The blueprint has been laid and those in Europe now seek to replicate what Trump has done. The past eight years have shown the way, it is relatively straightforward for those of the far right. The incumbent must first be exposed, framing them as believing they are above the working man. Then you flood the zone with quick fixes, allowing the discourse to believe that populist rhetoric is the only viable solution. After polluting the political sphere, you then wait for the next electoral event, allowing for the seeds of doubt that you implemented into the electorates mind to come to fruition.
Labour’s lackadaisical approach to government has allowed those from the political outside to dominate the airwaves. It has been easy for Farage and Reform to point to the incompetence of the government when there has been such an absence of real substance. The Reform leader has swiftly embraced Steve Bannon’s strategy—flood the zone. Echoing the disgustingly ruthless Roy Cohn: attack relentlessly, never back down, never admit defeat. Winning is the only option.
The cloak of invincibility now bequeaths Farage. He struts around SW1, with no desire to be popular. More mainstream – yes, but those who despise his role in Brexit and spiel of speaking for the working man, hold such a deep-rooted detestation for him that they will never be swayed. It is about tapping into those who sit in the more moderate right, pushing them to question which party most speaks for my beliefs. At the fundamental heart of every inhabitant on the right of politics, moderate or far, is sovereignty. To be a conservative is to place the idea of Britain and all it encompasses, above everything else.
Farage is acutely aware that tapping into this idea at every opportunity is his path to electoral victory. Trump has normalised the idea of deporting millions of illegal ‘aliens’ and cutting foreign aid because it is all tied to the broader theme of putting your country first and rejecting the 21st-century globalist status quo.
Trump’s denouncement of Gaza as a place that could be turned into a Middle Eastern Riviera, resembling his beloved Mar-a-Lago, was a grotesque statement that epitomised the narcissism underpinning his second term in office. But it allowed Farage to way in later that day to credit the entrepreneurial mindset that his big, orange friend embodied. America, America, America, forget anything else. You don’t doubt everyone tuning into the Reform’s leader press conference would have had a good laugh about Trump’s proposition.
Ethnic cleansing, is a byproduct of the political environment we now reside in. Trumpa nd MAGAism are not a fleeting passer-by. It is the water and the oxygen, a permanence that hasn’t just seeped into the discourse but infected every aspect of our lives. Demonisation, hatred and ostracization are not elements of a bilious ideology but rather hallmarks of a new normal.
The path to victory in 2029 has now never looked clearer for Farage and his contemporaries. Across the UK and mainland Europe, the right continues to push the Overton window further into extremism, drawing inspiration from Trump and feeding off the chaos of social media. X has become the political battleground—a digital coffee house and beer hall you’d find in fascist Europe, where spite and division flourish under the guise of free speech.
Nothing is off-limits. No position is too extreme. This is the Trumpian age—a political dystopia so filled with hyperbole and outrage. Farage and his allies are poised to reap the rewards.
