Politics

MAGA figures say far-right wins in Europe are good news for Trump. Are they right?

Published

2 years ago

June 12, 2024

MAGA figures say far-right wins in Europe are good news for Trump. Are they right?

WASHINGTON —

The elections were overseas, but for members of the MAGA movement, the rightward tilt in the European Parliament was still a chance to declare victory.

Steven K. Bannon, who led former President Trump’s 2016 campaign and served as a chief advisor in the White House, compared this week’s election results to the decision by British voters in June 2016 to leave the European Union — a historic move that preceded Trump’s surprise victory by five months.

“Absolutely, tectonic plate shift,” Bannon declared on his podcast Monday.

The European Union and the United States have very different political systems and practices, among them the multi-party coalition-building that goes on in Europe.

But there are some important lessons for the United States.

Who won the European Parliament election?

Centrists won a clear overall victory in the 27-nation European Union. The center-right European People’s Party of Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, president of the bloc’s European Commission, won the most seats in the 720-member Parliament, according to preliminary results.

But the far right made significant gains, taking about 20% of the parliamentary seats. To secure a second term, Von der Leyen has hinted that she may seek a coalition alliance with the Italian Brotherhood, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party with neo-fascist roots.

The ultranationalist Alternative for Germany became that country’s second-largest political party, outpacing the party of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

French President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections after the far-right National Rally won twice as many seats as his own party. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo resigned after his party was similarly thrashed.

Still, not all of the 27 EU countries had such dramatic results.

“I don’t think it was Europe completely changing its character,” said Michael K. Miller, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University. “It’s essentially a reelection and a reaffirmation of the center right” and “a tilting toward the far right, but not the far right winning everything.”

Why are Trump supporters so excited?

Immigration, inflation and a rejection of the mainstream — Trump’s favorite themes — have all played a role in the far right’s rise in Europe.

“You cannot deny that there is something happening in America, in Europe,” said Matt Schlapp, who runs the Conservative Political Action Conference, of events in the U.S., Hungary and elsewhere that promote right-wing populism. “The themes are 80% the same.”

But the far right won only about 20% of seats in the parliament, not a majority, making it difficult to analogize a Trump victory in America’s two-party system, which requires an electoral college majority, said Andrew Gawthorpe, a lecturer at Leiden University in the Netherlands who researches U.S. politics.

Should President Biden be worried?

It depends on who you ask. Beyond the rise of the right, the election showed a frustration with incumbents that has popped up in other countries, including India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a third term by a surprisingly close margin in recent parliamentary elections.

The “fatigue factor” was especially notable in France, where Macron has held office since 2017, said Max Bergmann, a former Obama administration official who directs the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He compared the far right’s success in Germany to a U.S. midterm election, in which voters send a message to their top leaders without necessarily ousting them. President Obama, for example, saw his party lose big in the 2010 congressional elections but still won his own reelection two years later.

The EU election shows the power of immigration as a wedge issue and reinforces the “absolute necessity” that Democrats in the U.S. focus on kitchen-table economics and abortion — the latter an issue that European parties did not have, said Celinda Lake, who led President Biden’s 2020 polling, in an email.

“It shows energy on the right,” she added. “These are things we have seen but 1718191293 affirmed.”

Though Obama rebounded in 2012, Biden’s future is unclear, and the EU election suggests that some voters on both sides of the Atlantic share similar complaints. “It’s concerning for sure,” Lake said.

The center held in Europe, but why is it weakening?

Gawthorpe argues that the center in Europe is weakening for the same reason it is in the U.S.: Working-class voters are frustrated with societal, racial and cultural change.

These voters — whom he compares to onetime Democrats in the upper Midwest — have traditionally allied with left-wing parties over economic issues but are shifting to far-right parties in Europe, leapfrogging over center-right parties that are moderate on immigration and culture-war issues. The movements have appealed to rural voters in both continents.

“Isolationist and xenophobic messages do work — they speak to people’s fears and concerns in a way voters find compelling,” said Allison McManus, managing director for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. “The rise of the far right in Europe is not something we can see as separate from the far right in the United States,” she added. “There’s learning that’s happening from these parties across the Atlantic.”

What difference does a two-party system make?

It’s big in this instance because voters in many European countries can choose between a multitude of parties across the political spectrum. That makes it easier for far-left and far-right parties to win power but harder for them to gain a majority.

In the U.S., Trump has basically taken over the Republican Party and remade it — a different path than European parties, which are more accustomed to building a coalition.

Still, some far-right parties in Europe seem inclined to reach out to other parties. That has been the case with Meloni, Italy’s far-right prime minister, who won her election two years ago.

In France, Marine Le Pen is trying to accomplish the same feat. Le Pen’s nationalist, anti-immigration, populist National Rally Party has been challenging the establishment for decades. A victory for Le Pen’s party in the upcoming French election would obviously send an even stronger message, given France’s influence and close ties with the U.S.

Times staff writer Laura King in Berlin contributed to this report.

Politics

China-linked birth tourism under scrutiny as GOP lawmakers press Trump admin for answers

Published

35 minutes ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

China-linked birth tourism under scrutiny as GOP lawmakers press Trump admin for answers

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FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are pressing the Trump administration for answers over whether China is exploiting U.S. birthright citizenship and visa programs in a U.S. territory to secure long-term influence inside the United States.

In a letter sent Monday to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and 32 other GOP members raise concerns that so-called “birth tourism” and visa-waiver policies in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands could be leveraged by Chinese nationals in ways that present national security risks.

Noem will leave her position at the Department of Homeland Security at the end of the month.

“American citizenship is a sacred trust—not a loophole to be exploited. When foreign adversaries like the Chinese Communist Party can leverage birth tourism and visa-less programs to gain influence within our borders, we must restore integrity to our immigration system and defend the sovereignty of our Republic,” Roy said.

Tiffany argued that “Communist China has exploited ‘birth tourism’ by sending women to the Northern Mariana Islands solely to give birth and secure U.S. citizenship for their children,” adding that “It is time to close this loophole, end the abuse, and protect our national security.”

TRUMP SAYS SUPREME COURT RULING AGAINST BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP ORDER WOULD BENEFIT CHINA

House Republicans are pressing the Trump administration for answers over whether China is exploiting U.S. birthright citizenship and visa programs in a U.S. territory to secure long-term influence inside the United States. (GemStocks/Getty Images )

The Northern Mariana Islands is a U.S. territory in the Pacific, and like births in any U.S. state, children born there are granted American citizenship under the 14th Amendment, even though the territory operates under certain distinct immigration rules.

The lawmakers cite reports estimating that between 750,000 and 1.5 million Chinese nationals have obtained U.S. citizenship through birthright policies and birth tourism, though federal agencies have not publicly confirmed those figures. In their letter, Roy and Tiffany ask the Departments of Homeland Security, State and Interior to provide data on how many children have been born since 2009 to at least one Chinese national parent, how many have reached voting age, and how many are registered to vote in the United States.

They also ask whether any such individuals have documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party and request entry figures for Chinese nationals under Northern Mariana-specific immigration programs.

Under the 14th Amendment, individuals born on U.S. soil are generally granted citizenship at birth. The debate has centered on whether foreign nationals travel to the United States specifically to give birth so their children will obtain citizenship — a practice commonly referred to as birth tourism.

Federal prosecutors in recent years have brought criminal cases against operators of birth tourism businesses, particularly in California, where organizers were convicted of visa fraud and conspiracy for helping foreign nationals misrepresent their travel intentions in order to give birth in the United States.

The Northern Mariana Islands have long operated under distinct immigration frameworks. In 2009, the Obama administration implemented a categorical parole program allowing certain Chinese nationals to enter without obtaining a traditional U.S. tourist visa. The Biden administration in 2024 finalized a rule creating the Economic Vitality & Security Travel Authorization Program (EVS-TAP) for the Northern Mariana Islands, which allows certain Chinese nationals to enter the territory visa-free for short stays.

In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Tom Tiffany, R-Wis., and 32 other GOP members raise concerns that so-called “birth tourism” and visa-waiver policies in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) could be leveraged by Chinese nationals in ways that present national security risks. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

The lawmakers argue those policies created incentives for birth tourism in Saipan, the capital of the islands, pointing to reports that births to foreign visitors increased sharply after the 2009 changes.

NOEM BACKS SAVE AMERICA ACT, SLAMS ‘RADICAL LEFT’ OPPOSITION TO VOTER IDS AND PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP

They warn that once U.S.-born children turn 21, they can petition for lawful permanent resident status for their parents, potentially opening additional immigration pathways.

While the letter raises concerns that such individuals could eventually participate in U.S. elections, it does not cite evidence that large numbers are currently registered to vote or that the Chinese government has directed birth tourism as a coordinated strategy.

The Departments of Homeland Security and Interior did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. The State Department referred back to the Department of Homeland Security.

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The letter comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing, with U.S. officials repeatedly warning about Chinese influence operations, intellectual property theft and espionage efforts targeting American institutions.

Roy and Tiffany urged the administration to end any parole or visa-waiver programs extended to Chinese nationals in the Northern Mariana Islands and to provide a full accounting of the scope of birth tourism involving PRC nationals.

The Chinese embassy could not immediately be reached for comment.

Politics

CBS News’ Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane exits network

Published

1 hour ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

CBS News’ Justice Department correspondent Scott MacFarlane exits network

Scott MacFarlane, a high-profile hire for CBS News five years ago, announced Monday he is leaving the network.

MacFarlane told colleagues in an email that the departure is his decision.

“I will always value the opportunity I had to work alongside the talented and committed professionals here,” MacFarlane said. “I’m proud to have had the words ‘CBS correspondent’ next to my name and always will be.”

MacFarlane added that he looks forward to “some independence and finding new spaces to share my work in line with my personal goals.”

MacFarlane is the first significant name to depart CBS News since parent company Paramount won its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery on Feb. 27. CBS News is likely to be combined with Warner Bros. Discovery’s CNN if the deal gets regulatory approval.

Journalists at CBS News have also been concerned over the moves by Bari Weiss, the contrarian opinion writer and founder of the digital news site the Free Press who was brought in as editor in chief of the division. Weiss was recruited by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison with a mandate to move CBS News to the political center.

Weiss is expected to make significant changes to “60 Minutes” and other CBS News programs in the coming months.

Executives at other TV news organizations say privately that they are seeing a heavy influx of resumes from CBS News journalists due to the upheaval at the company.

MacFarlane covered Congress and the Justice Department. CBS viewers saw him featured during extended network coverage of the State of the Union addresses and election nights.

MacFarlane was in Butler, Pa., during the assassination attempt of President Trump in July 2024. He reported the first accounts of the shooting scene and emergency responses moments after the shots were fired.

Before arriving at CBS News, MacFarlane served for eight years as an investigative reporter for WRC-TV, the NBC station in Washington, D.C.

Politics

Before-and-after satellite imagery offers a rare look at damage inside Iran

Published

13 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Press Room

Before-and-after satellite imagery offers a rare look at damage inside Iran

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Fresh satellite images give a rare aerial view of the damage across Iran after U.S.-Israeli strikes and what Tehran’s retaliation left behind across the region.

Planet Labs satellite imagery captured burning ships and damaged facilities at the Konarak base in southern Iran, as well as significant destruction at Iran’s naval headquarters in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf, reflecting the scale of the strikes on military infrastructure.

Satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows damage at Konarak naval base in southern Iran, left, and Iran’s Bandar Abbas naval headquarters in the Persian Gulf, right. (Planet Labs PBC)

Imagery from Vantor shows damage to facilities and vessels located in Iran’s Bushehr port in the Persian Gulf.

In addition to naval assets, satellite photos show a bunker at Bushehr air base hit by a strike, leaving a large crater and destroying several nearby small buildings.

More strikes targeted the Choqa Balk drone facility in western Iran.

Radar systems at the Zahedan air base in eastern Iran — near the country’s borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan — were also struck.

The two facilities are about 800 to 900 miles apart, underscoring the broad reach of the coordinated strikes.

Satellite imagery also reveals damage to aircraft on the tarmac at Shiraz air base, including scorch marks and debris around several parking areas.

Side-by-side photos showing damage to aircraft at Shiraz air base in Shiraz, Iran on March 6, 2026. (Vantor/Maxar/Getty Images)

Satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows thick smoke plumes rising above Tehran, signaling explosions and fires inside the Iranian capital.

The smoke underscores how the conflict has moved beyond isolated military sites and into the heart of Iran’s political center.

THE UNLIKELY TOOL TRUMP IS EYEING TO TACKLE RISING OIL PRICES AMID THE IRAN CONFLICT

A satellite image from Planet Labs shows a plume of smoke above Tehran, Iran, on March 1, 2026. (Planet Labs PBC)

Iran has since responded with missile and drone strikes of its own, expanding the conflict across the region.

Satellite images reveal damage to the port city of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Sharjah is the third most populous after Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

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The Jebel Ali Port, the region’s largest maritime hub, was also targeted, underscoring how the retaliation extended beyond military sites to key infrastructure.

The new satellite imagery comes on the heels of U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several top members of the regime, triggering a succession crisis.

President Donald Trump warned on Sunday that Iran’s new leader is “not going to last long” without U.S. approval as Operation Epic Fury marches into a third week.

Amanda covers the intersection of business and politics for Fox News Digital.