Politics
Global Right-Wing Leaders Revel in a Renewed Fight, Supercharged by Trump
To longstanding American allies in Europe, remarks by President Trump and Vice President JD Vance about Ukraine and Germany this month represented one of the gravest tests of the postwar order in decades.
But to a cohort of current and former world leaders who gathered this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, they represented something else: the dawning of a global right-wing resurgence that, thanks to Mr. Trump’s re-election, is on the cusp of irrevocably transforming that order.
“We missed the first American Revolution in 1776,” said Liz Truss, the Conservative member of Parliament who briefly served as Britain’s prime minister. “We want to be a part of the second American Revolution.”
Ms. Truss was one of more than half a dozen political figures from as many countries to make the pilgrimage to CPAC this week in Oxon Hill, Md., just outside Washington. A long-running gathering of American conservatives that helped foment right-wing insurgencies within the G.O.P. during the Tea Party and Trump eras, CPAC has in recent years taken these ambitions global. The conference now serves as a connector of right-wing political movements in the Americas, Europe and Asia that increasingly see themselves as allies in a linked struggle against the institutions and geopolitical norms that have dominated world affairs since World War II.
In the past two weeks, Mr. Trump and his top officials have questioned that order more directly and openly than any U.S. administration of the postwar period.
Marco Rubio, Mr. Trump’s secretary of state, met for more than four hours on Tuesday with Russian officials in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to reset the relationship between the two global powers and seek a path to end the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Mr. Trump called the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, a “dictator” and blamed him for Russia’s 2022 invasion of his country.
And the Riyadh meeting came days after Mr. Vance, in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, likened the European Union’s policing of online speech to Soviet censorship. He also met with the leader of Germany’s right-wing Alternative for Germany party, which had long been marginalized for some members’ embrace of neo-Nazi slogans and for its links to a recent coup plot.
Mr. Vance defended his Munich speech at his own CPAC appearance on Thursday, as did a parade of international allies who took the stage after him.
The standard-bearers of right-wing political movements around the world — prime ministers from North Macedonia and Slovakia, opposition leaders from Poland and Spain — welcomed Mr. Trump as a transformational figure in a battle against liberalism that transcended nations and continents.
They cast their domestic enemies — judges, online speech constraints, civil society programs and mainstream news organizations — as part of an international project to suppress traditional values, religion and free markets, and hailed the new American president as an ally in turning the tide against them.
“He’s completely changing the international picture,” Balázs Orbán, the political director for the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, who is no relation, said in an interview at the conference.
In his speech on Thursday, Eduardo Bolsonaro, a Brazilian lawmaker and a son of the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro, who was charged this week with attempting a coup to stay in power after losing the 2022 election, described his country as “a laboratory” that was “being used as a testing ground for the judicial weaponization against conservatives, libertarians and Christians — always under the pretense of protecting democracy.”
In particular, the foreign delegations at CPAC celebrated the effort being led by Elon Musk to eliminate the United States Agency for International Development and the civil society programs it funds around the world.
Such programs have enjoyed broad bipartisan backing for years in the United States, and similar support in the European Union, which has joined the United States in financing independent news media, rule-of-law programs and, more recently, efforts to curb online misinformation around the world. But these efforts have incensed the ascendant right-wing parties, which have often run afoul of them.
Mr. Bolsonaro, in his speech, accused U.S.A.I.D. of “channeling resources into censorship, judicial overreach and political persecution.”
Mr. Musk’s abrupt embrace of these grievances against the American development agency reflects the growing influence of the global right on the American right — a connection commemorated at CPAC when President Javier Milei of Argentina, who has become a celebrity on the American right, bounded onstage to present Mr. Musk with the chain saw he had wielded theatrically during his 2023 presidential campaign.
This year’s CPAC was perhaps the fullest fruition yet of the vision of right-wing solidarity that some in Mr. Trump’s political orbit, most notably his onetime White House adviser Stephen K. Bannon, tried to foment during the first Trump administration.
Mr. Bannon, who spoke at CPAC on Thursday, threatened to fracture the coalition, however, raising his hand briefly at the end of his speech in what appeared to many to be a reference to a Nazi salute — a gesture that recalled a similar salute by Mr. Musk at Mr. Trump’s inauguration rally last month.
Mr. Bannon’s gesture, which he denied was a Nazi reference, prompted Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, to cancel his planned CPAC speech on Friday. In a statement, he said he had made the decision “immediately” after seeing Mr. Bannon make a “gesture referring to Nazi ideology.”
But another international speaker on the Friday program, the Mexican actor and political activist Eduardo Verástegui, leaned into Mr. Bannon’s provocation, raising his arm in a similar salute at the conclusion of his own speech.
Speaking on Thursday, the British politician Nigel Farage, among the first from abroad to make connections with the right wing of the Republican Party in the Obama years, remarked on how far the right had come since.
“How amazing it is — 13 years ago, I was the only foreign speaker” at CPAC, said Mr. Farage, who was a key figure in the Brexit campaign of 2016, an early victory in the global right-wing resurgence.
Other speakers had followed Mr. Farage’s lead in crusading against the European Parliament and European Union bureaucracy, which they cast as part of the global network of institutions biased against their movement.
“My government was punished for standing up to Brussels,” said Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland from 2017 to 2023, when his right-wing Law and Justice Party was ousted from power by Civic Platform, a center-right party.
Mr. Orbán, the Hungarian official, whose government has been a model to many like-minded political activists in the global right, said right-wing political movements were less naturally predisposed to cooperate than liberal movements. But he argued that increasingly shared interests — blocking immigration, centering Christianity in public life and skepticism of the war in Ukraine — were drawing the disparate movements together.
“It’s complicated, because if you are a national conservative, it means that you want the best for your country, and your country’s national interests can be confrontational with other countries’ national interests,” he said. “But we still have to do it, try to identify the shared points — and now there are many, many points.”
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The U.S. military announced another deadly strike against a vessel that it alleges was involved in “narco-trafficking” efforts.
“On April 19, at the direction of #SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” U.S. Southern Command indicated in a post on X.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post continued.
US MILITARY KILLS 2 SUSPECTED CARTEL OPERATIVES IN LATEST EASTERN PACIFIC LETHAL STRIKE, SOUTHCOM SAYS
The U.S. military announced that it killed three “narco-terrorists” in a strike in the Caribbean on Sunday, April 19, 2026. (@Soutcom via X)
SOUTHCOM indicated that the attack killed three men.
“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post noted.
President Donald Trump’s administration has carried out dozens of deadly strikes against vessels of alleged “narco-terrorists.”
US MILITARY CONDUCTS MORE DEADLY STRIKES AGAINST VESSELS OF ALLEGED ‘NARCO-TERRORISTS’
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Francis L. Donovan, nominee for commander of U.S. Southern Command, testifies during his Senate confirmatino hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 15, 2026. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
In a completely different part of the world, amid ongoing tensions between America and Iran, the U.S. attacked an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on April 19.
“Guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) intercepted M/V Touska as it transited the north Arabian Sea at 17 knots enroute to Bandar Abbas, Iran. American forces issued multiple warnings and informed the Iranian-flagged vessel it was in violation of the U.S. blockade,” U.S. Central Command noted.
US SEIZES IRANIAN SHIP AFTER OPENING FIRE; PAKISTAN TALKS IN DOUBT
President Donald Trump on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Graeme Sloan/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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“After Touska’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings over a six-hour period, Spruance directed the vessel to evacuate its engine room. Spruance disabled Touska’s propulsion by firing several rounds from the destroyer’s 5-inch MK 45 Gun into Touska’s engine room. U.S. Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit later boarded the non-compliant vessel, which remains in U.S. custody,” CENTCOM noted.
SACRAMENTO — A month after a public uproar over a mama bear being euthanized after swiping at a resident in Monrovia, state lawmakers are considering mandating the use of nonlethal ways to help allow wildlife and humans to coexist.
Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas) said she believes the bear’s death, and the state’s decision to kill four wolves last year that were preying on cattle, raised public concern.
“That made everybody realize we have to do better here,” she told The Times on Thursday. “We need to recognize the importance of seeing ourselves, humans, as part of a larger ecosystem that includes animals and plants and our world and trying to protect it.”
Senate Bill 1135, introduced by Blakespear, would direct the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to create the Wildlife Coexistence Program, which would provide public education, offer technical assistance and maintain a statewide incident reporting system. It would help communities deploy nonlethal devices to deter predators, like barriers or noise and light machines.
At a legislative hearing on Tuesday, Blakespear told the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water that a three-year state initiative offering similar services was seeing positive results — until it was discontinued two years ago after funding ran dry. She said it was time to implement a permanent program.
“Human population growth, habitat loss and the growth of industry across California inevitably leads to interaction between humans and wildlife,” Blakespear told legislators. “No two animal species are the same and each has unique behavior patterns and territories. SB 1135 recognizes these differences and gives communities the tools to prevent conflict and respond when it occurs.”
The bill would also rename a state program that reimburses ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, calling it the Wolf-Livestock Coexistence and Compensation Program. It would require ranchers seeking compensation to show they were using nonlethal deterrents approved by the department.
Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) stressed that life in rural areas is different than living in a city. She said some families and cattle ranchers have a genuine fear of predators.
“When these baby calves drop on the ground and then two wolves start ripping them apart, it’s not the prettiest thing you’ve ever witnessed,” said Grove, who abstained from voting on the measure. “These wolves are not puppies.”
More than 30 organizations are supporting the legislation, including the National Wildlife Federation, Defenders of Wildlife, California State Assn. of Counties, Animal Legal Defense Fund and Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife.
The California Farm Bureau and the California Cattlemen’s Assn. are in opposition due to concerns over funding.
Last month, Blakespear sent a letter to the chair of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review requesting $48.8 million to implement the legislation, with $25 million earmarked for addressing wolf encounters. Half of the money for wolf conflicts would go toward deterrents; the remainder would compensate ranchers for their losses.
Kirk Wilbur, vice president of government affairs cattlemen’s association, said the organization is concerned about that division of funding — especially if funding is reduced.
Wilbur told legislators Tuesday that the organization supports some aspects of the bill and was having productive conversations with Blakespear to address their concerns.
The bill ultimately passed the committee with a 5-to-1 vote and now heads to the Senate Committee on Appropriations.
Human wildlife conflicts have made headlines in California recently, with a bear refusing to leave a basement for weeks in Altadena and a mama bear dubbed Blondie crossing paths last month with a woman walking her dog in Monrovia.
Blondie swiped the woman’s leg, and was subsequently euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Her two cubs were sent to the San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. The bear’s death upset many in the community, as thousands had signed a petition calling for other solutions, like relocation.
Deadly wildlife attacks on humans, however, are rare in California.
There have been six reported human fatalities from mountain lions since 1890, according to the state Fish and Wildlife Department. The agency recorded one human fatality from a coyote in 1981 and another fatality from a black bear in 2023. The department has no recorded human fatalities from gray wolves.
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The Justice Department is turning to former Trump attorney Joeseph diGenova to spearhead a probe into ex-CIA Director John Brennan and others over the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, as the department reshuffles leadership of the sprawling inquiry.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has tapped diGenova to serve as counsel overseeing the matter, according to a New York Times report, putting a former Trump attorney in a key role in the high-profile probe. A federal grand jury seated in Miami has been impaneled since late last year.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
DOJ ACTIVELY PREPARING TO ISSUE GRAND JURY SUBPOENAS RELATING TO JOHN BRENNAN INVESTIGATION: SOURCES
Joseph diGenova represented President Donald Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
DiGenova, a former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who represented Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has repeatedly accused Brennan of misconduct tied to the origins of the Russia probe—allegations that have not resulted in criminal charges.
He also said in a 2018 appearance on Fox News that Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump.
The origins of the Russia investigation have been the subject of ongoing scrutiny by Trump allies, who have argued that intelligence and law enforcement officials improperly launched the probe.
BRENNAN INDICTMENT COULD COME WITHIN ‘WEEKS’ AS PROSECUTORS REQUEST OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS
Joseph diGenova has previously said that ex-CIA chief John Brennan colluded with the FBI and DOJ to frame Trump. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
DiGenova’s appointment follows the ouster of Maria Medetis Long, a national security prosecutor in the South Florida U.S. attorney’s office. She had been overseeing the inquiry, including a false statements probe related to Brennan and broader conspiracy-related investigations.
As the investigation continues, federal investigators have issued subpoenas seeking information related to intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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John Brennan has denied any wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images; Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Brennan has previously denied wrongdoing related to the Russia investigation and has defended the intelligence community’s assessment that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.
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