Michael Flynn and the Freedom Party
- Charlie Biscotto
- Dec 20, 2016
- 3 min read
In announcing a pact with Vladimir Putin's United Russia, Austria's Freedom Party slipped in a small detail: that they had also met with Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, Donald Trump's choice for national security advisor. That a Trump surrogate would meet with a Russian ally is surprising only in its boldness in the aftermath of allegations of Russian hacking. Still the Freedom Party provides a good external case study in what happens when ultra-nationalist right-wing movements are empowered and, more importantly, how to stop them.
The Freedom Party was founded by Nazis in the aftermath of World War II, but has since been fairly politically fluid, sometimes aligned with the center-left Social Democrats and sometimes with the center-right People's Party. In the aftermath of the global economic downturn in 2008 and fears over Islamic immigration more recently, the party has taken on more right-wing, nationalistic messages with its official slogan, "Austria first." Though typically on the fringes, the Freedom Party saw a huge uptick in fortunes with its candidate, Norbert Hofer, making the final run-off in this year's Austrian presidential election. You can read his bio from the Telegraph and draw your own conclusions, but certain elements in his messaging and personality stand out:
He has also been spotted wearing the blue cornflower, which is an old clandestine Nazi symbol that harks back to ideas of pan-Germanism, the nineteenth century idea of a ‘greater Germany’ that ultimately inspired Hitler’s foreign policy and the annexations and invasions that triggered the Second World War.
Though Hofer was defeated, it was only through the efforts of a broad and ideologically diverse coalition behind independent Alexander Van der Bellen, a professor, environmentalist, and former Green Party leader. This coalition that will prove problematic in Austria's next parliamentary election when the Social Democrats and People's Party compete to finish ahead of the Freedom Party for the right to organize the government.
Whether we call the Freedom Party neo-Nazis, fascists, ultra-nationalists, or the Austrian "alt-right," they were defeated, and it happened because people who disagreed with one another decided that they disagreed with what the Freedom Party represents more.
Sadly, Donald Trump will take office as president on January 20th, 2017. The coalition to stop him never materialized. Some #NeverTrumpers decided that they were more #NeverHillaryers. Some Bernie Bros, perhaps feeling the after-effects of their childhood vaccinations, decided to vote Green. And some people believed blatant lies that Hillary was facing indictment, that a pizza place was a front for human trafficking, or that the foundation that self-dealt portraits of its owner was more charitable than the one actively engaged in aid for international humanitarian crises.
The battle for Austria's future still looms, but the battle here has begun in earnest. Michael Flynn's apparent effort to align with the Freedom Party is another in a long list of troubling signs about Donald Trump's feelings about racists and white nationalists (with Flynn's own past language being somewhere near the top of the list). Trump should condemn Flynn and his meeting, but that's not likely to happen. What does need to happen is for those opposed to Trump to stop blaming Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or any other member of the anti-Trump coalition for Trump's rise. Donald Trump is president because our coalition against fascism didn't hold. Donald Trump is president because enough people in enough of the right states voted for him, and unless we turn our aim at him, we'll be firing at each other for eight years of a Trump presidency.
Opmerkingen