Current Affairs

Immigration is the catalyst to the movement towards populist arguments across the EU and the United States. The arguments concerning immigration and migration have been catapulted to the top of the agenda of the populist politician, but underneath there are also arguments of tax burdens and centralised governments. Trumps call to the electorate of lets Make America Great Again (MAGA) is a call from the past towards a future that re-awakens the sleeping industrial “rust belt” that once held successful business’, and this electorate have overwhelmingly supported Trump in the belief that he would bring jobs back to these once thriving industrial centres

In the referendum vote in Britain to leave the EU, Britain’s far right leader Nigel Farage used a poster of immigrants queueing up to enter Britain. The argument of Brexit became confused and plenty of British voted in the referendum supported the idea that Brexit would curb immigration. Boris Johnson, the leader of the Conservative party in the referendum wrote that “after meeting thousands of people […] I can tell you that the number one issue was control – a sense that British democracy was being undermined by the EU system, and we should restore to the people that vital power.” But there were signs of migrant bashing during the referendum and reports that community centres for migrants had been vandalised and verbal threats against migrants had taken place throughout the country.

Georgia Meloni, the mini powerhouse who won the election in Italy and has her detractors, brought to the foreground the argument of immigration. But rather than attack the immigrants, she attacked what she saw as the root cause of illegal immigration, which was poverty in the home countries. But Italy and the far right have not had this type of argument before, the late Silvio Berlusconi commented after the shooting of nine migrants that “Italy’s permissive migrant policy” was to blame. He also introduced the Bossi-Fini law in his first government, which put in place a law that deemed thousands of migrants as irregular and migrants were told that they must obtain a contract of work before entering Italy.

According to academics they agreed that propaganda is the “art of influencing, manipulating, controlling, promoting, changing, inducing or securing the acceptance of opinions, action, or behaviour.” Of course politicians want to control the news source, but the reality is that there are checks and balances that manage the narrative through journalism that questions the veracity of a politicians argument. But there are sources which challenge the media and those elements of propaganda are propagated to spoil and cause chaos. In the 2017 French election a fake copy of La Soir newspaper was created, which claimed that Emanuel Macron received most of his funding from Saudi Arabia, which of course was untrue.

But to counter the journalist questioning, the politicians are now using strategies that challenge the narrative of a story. Donald Trump is famous for arguing that a story, (however true), is fake news. It is dismissive, but at the same time challenges a narrative that is not complimentary to the politician and also empowers the politicians ability to control the news cycle. Trump’s contention that voting machines were rigged has been taken to court. Though he lost the argument that the voting machines were rigged, he still contends today that the election was taken from him due to voting machine irregularities. But the story emanated from a tweet in 2016, when a voter failed to use a voting machine correctly has caused suspicion of the voting machines by politicians, such as Trump.

These same suspicions of inanimate objects or the unknown challenges the voters trust in the liberal politician because of the propaganda emanating from the populist politician or a media that is popularising arguments, which alienates the citizen from sources that are truthful. To a degree the media owner is to blame for narratives, which challenge electoral results by publicising arguments about the veracity of polling machines. The defamation case against Fox news by Dominion, the manufacturer of the voting machines, led to a court case that cost Fox news $750 million in settlements. It also led to the sacking of journalists who decided to ‘big up’ the issue of corruption in polling stations in an attempt to destabilise the electoral cycle.

The populist politician has highlighted arguments that have polarised society. The question of LGBT rights, migration, crime and reproductive rights have been central to the elections in the United States. Fears among the electorate of change challenges the politician who is trying to increase arguments such as diversity, and strong religious beliefs in a community can alienate the electorate from more progressive arguments. The seeding of arguments across the internet challenges the progressive arguments that have been taken up by Liberal politicians who try and challenge the status quo, but the mass arguments by a conservative majority challenges the progressives who are not able to control the narrative.  

Trump points to the borders, his argument that he met immigration front on, alines him with the concerns of an electorate that fears migration, and the consequences of his arguments challenges the reality on the ground where migrants are needed to do the jobs that citizens don’t want. Arguments of LGBT rights feeds into the religious objections and conservative arguments against change. It is also a progressive argument that challenges a majority who argue for family and the elements that make up the family. The diversity argument is dependent on where you are in the states and ties into arguments of crime and the consequences of gun control on the argument of diversity. America is polarised and the fear of the unknown challenges an electorate that is fed instant news through Twitter (X), facebook and other instant sources.

Under Jo Biden, migrants have only just become united with their families after the Trump policy of separating the families. The hold that Congress has on the political landscape has meant that arguments of abortion feature strongly on a country that challenges women on their reproductive rights. The ruling of Wade vs Roe, was overturned by a supreme court dominated by a conservative majority, which has been disastrous for some, but for others they have argued that they have the right to challenge a law, whatever their gender.

But in Europe the populists are not hamstrung by the same arguments as in America, they argue against progressive arguments such as LGBT rights, but also argue that it is an anathema against family values. The iconography of LGBTQ is also challenging the conservative arguments in a full faced way that eliminates the middle ground and has become a battleground between conservatives and what they term as a woke agenda by progressives. The control of arguments themselves are fought out among the instant collective of instagram, Twitter(X) and facebook users, which challenges the mainstream news sources. Each argument challenges how a more media controlled argument has already been mainstreamed with a slant put on by the publisher of the content on another platform.

Arguments of what it is to be a man have been highlighted by court cases, and the question of rape has been highlighted by Andrew Tate and his trial in Romania. But the argument is because society has become more polarised and confused by the content creators who have placed their argument at the forefront of their agenda and termed it as such. Each element that is argued becomes a challenge for the mainstream media and the historians who have showcased a narrative have argued that the liberal argument will be showcased as a progressive argument, has been challenged by other news sources. The sound bite interview is being questioned and memes have taken control of how an argument is being put through to a more savy younger audience who have found other sources of information.

The battle against the unknown, whether that is immigration, LGBTQ rights or other progressive arguments is at the forefront of the agenda of the politician. They are determined by their voter and with the arguments that are spread across the news narrative coming to the foreground, the reality is that these agendas are challenged by other sources other than the mainstream. But the polarisation of the population is also a realisation by the politician that they can take advantage of this polarisation and push on towards a populist agenda that has mass appeal. Politicians across Europe and the United States are pushing the envelope to include arguments that alienate and instil fear in a minority that feel alienated by a populist agenda.