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CPAC 2025 Brings More Far-Right Foreign Politicians to Meddle in America's Internal Politics [1]

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Date: 2025-02-23

by Mark C. Eades

In the pre-Trump era, leaders of the United States and its friends and allies abroad all observed a principle of mutual non-partisanship and non-interference their countries’ internal politics. American politicians didn’t take sides in their friends’ and allies’ elections, and their politicians didn’t take sides in ours. America’s relationship with the United Kingdom, for example, didn’t depend on which party was in power in Washington or in Westminster, because the relationship between America and the UK was a country-to-country relationship, not a party-to-party relationship. Obviously, in the pre-Trump era, Americans wouldn’t have tolerated foreign adversaries meddling in our elections, either.

That all changed in 2016, when Donald Trump invited and welcomed Russian interference on his behalf in that year’s presidential election, and brought far-right British politician Nigel Farage along with him on the campaign trail. Then, as president, he treated Western democratic leaders with complete disdain, sucked up to Vladimir Putin and other dictators; and aligned himself with far-right authoritarian leaders including Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, openly endorsing them in their countries’ elections while they openly endorsed him in ours.

Democratic Party politicians still observe the principle of mutual non-partisanship and non-interference in the internal politics of America’s friends and allies, as do most politicians from those countries. Republicans and their far-right political allies abroad, however, seem to be forming a far-right version of the Soviet-era Communist International (Comintern), under which communist countries had friendly relations only with other communist countries; and communist parties worldwide took their marching orders from Moscow.

Like Trump, the Republican Party and GOP-aligned organizations such as the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), show little interest in friendly relations with governments run by mainstream parties, and have increasingly aligned themselves with the far right. Recently, at the Munich Security Conference, J.D. Vance spoke openly in support of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party; and Elon Musk appeared via video link at an AfD rally in Germany.

The U.S. Republican Party is no longer the American equivalent of the British Conservative Party, the French Republican Party, or other mainstream Western conservative parties. It is now the American equivalent of far-right parties like the AfD, Putin’s “United Russia” party, and Orbán’s Fidesz party in Hungary; and these far-right parties are the Trump GOP’s only foreign allies.

CPAC and right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation have formed an especially close relationship with the Orbán regime in Hungary, which they see as a model for America to follow. That’s right: Republicans — who used to see America as the model for other countries to follow — now see a country with a population comparable to that of New Jersey and a GDP comparable to that of Oklahoma as the model for the entire United States to follow. Orbán has hosted CPAC events in Hungary and spoken at CPAC events in the United States. With Trump back in the White House, Russia seems to be coming back into favor with Republicans, so perhaps Putin will soon be speaking at CPAC, too. With far less than half the population of the United States and a GDP smaller than that of Texas, Russia should also strike Republicans as an excellent model for America to follow.

CPAC 2025 in Washington DC on February 19-22 was no exception to the Trump GOP’s increasing alignment with the international far right. Foreign politicians and activists who spoke at CPAC 2025 included Nigel Farage of the far-right ReformUK party; far-right President of Argentina Javier Milei; Santiago Abascal of Spain’s far-right VOX party; Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of Brazil’s former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro (currently banned from traveling outside Brazil); CPAC Hungary organizer Miklós Szánthó; pro-Putin Slovak prime minister Robert Fico; far-right Polish politician Mateusz Morawiecki; far-right French politician Jordan Bardella; and far-right Mexican actor Eduardo Verástegui.

The only “mainstream” foreign politician to speak at CPAC 2025 was former UK prime minister Liz Truss. With a term in office that lasted less than two months, Truss holds the distinction of being the shortest-serving prime minister in British history. Following her resignation in disgrace as prime minister, Truss also lost her seat in Parliament, so maybe she is latching onto Trump and CPAC in an effort to regain political relevance. Apparently, according to CPAC, a far-right Mexican actor and a complete failure as British prime minister are among the voices Americans should listen to for advice on how to run our country.

Now imagine how Republicans would react if Democrats were to bring left-wing politicians from the British Labour Party, the French Socialist Party, or the German Social Democrats to any of their events in the United States. There would be howls from Republicans of an international communist conspiracy to take over America. This won’t happen, of course, because Democrats still believe that America should be run and its elections decided by Americans.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/23/2305596/-CPAC-2025-Brings-More-Far-Right-Foreign-Politicians-to-Meddle-in-America-s-Internal-Politics?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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