Today, Donald Trump returned to the White House for his second presidential term, which is expected to be even more disruptive for the world than his first term in office.
While the world waits in anxious anticipation what Trump will do next, we want to share a few reflections on what we’ve observed about the impact of Trump’s electoral victory on the state of democracy in Europe and in the UK, particularly the very different responses to the unprecedented verbal attacks on European democracies that were launched by Elon Musk.
Having bought his way into Trump’s inner circle and the new US administration, Elon Musk has been very busy using his enormous platform. One of his most extraordinary interventions has been in Germany, where he labelled chancellor Olaf Scholz a “fool” and fervently endorsed the far right nazi-apologist movement Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Musk’s intervention in German politics went as far as hosting an event on his platform X featuring Musk himself and the leader of the AfD in support of the latter’s launch of the electoral campaign for the German Federal election of the next 23rd of February. Understandably, this behaviour prompted a strong reaction from the German chancellor who labelled it as “completely unacceptable” and described Musk as “a danger to European Democracy”.
Musk’s interference with European politics reached many other European countries. Among them, a particularly insidious one was in Italy, where he publicly asked to fire judges who had blocked the deportation of migrants from Italy to Albania. The move prompted Italian president of the Republic Sergio Mattarella to issue what the CNN described as a “highly unusual statement” from the Italian head of state, who generally stays out of politics. Mattarella stated that “Italy is a great democratic country and knows how to take care of itself. Anyone, particularly if, as announced, he is about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot give himself the task of issuing it instructions”. A direct jab at Musk, who was forced to express in response his “respect” for the President.
Where Musk’s political interventions were more notable though was certainly the UK, with many observers, including the BBC, noting a fixation with Britain at least since last summer’s riots, when Musk shared several conspiracy theories promoted by the English far right. This obsession with UK politics culminated in a tweet shared on January 6th, the anniversary of Trump’s supporters storming the US Capitol in an attempted coup..
Musk’s tweet promoted a poll asking whether “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government”, thus suggesting that the US could play an active role in toppling the democratically elected government of a close ally.
Yet, in stark contrast to Scholz and Mattarella’s strong reactions, the political leadership of the United Kingdom remained consistently silent to the point that Starmer deliberately avoided direct questions in relation to that tweet. Why
We think there are two fundamental reasons that explain this silence.
The most obvious will be immediately apparent to our friends in Scotland. The UK government in recent years has showcased an increasingly alarming disregard for democracy, exemplified by the repeated denials of the democratic mandate for a new independence referendum in Scotland. Furthermore, as we argued in response to the last UK general election, British democracy is increasingly dysfunctional, given its current government has an enormous parliamentary majority despite the weakest electoral mandate in British history, as a result of the UK’s hyper majoritarian electoral system, which is increasingly unfit for purpose. This poor record on democratic credentials will certainly have discouraged the Prime Minister from taking a strong stance against Musk. And Britain being a Monarchy, the King was certainly not the most credible interpreter of an attempt to defend the sovereignty of the people of Britain either.
But on a deeper level there is a more fundamental – and worrying – reason why Starmer has taken the strategic decision to stay silent in the face of direct attacks from a future member of the US administration. And this is of course Brexit. As argued by Anthony Barnett during our last event, Starmer’s team has decided to make Brexit work because they don’t think the UK will ever be ready to rejoin the EU as a normal European country. Instead, they would rather think of the UK’s core identity as being “an arm of the greater American hegemony.”
This episode ultimately unveils how much Brexit makes Britain subservient towards the US and gives reasons to worry about the future: if Starmer was so weak in the face of Musk’s blatant attacks on his authority, citizens across the UK nations must surely worry about what his response will be should the US administration make demands to the UK government on substantive policy issues such as trade or foreign policy.
Unsurprisingly, also as a consequence of its pro-Brexit policy, the popularity of Starmer’s government keeps falling to the point that the latest polls now show Labour with the same support as Nigel Farage’s Reform party, which in turn has superseded the Tories as the most popular opposition party. Indeed an absolute majority of voters now reject both Labour and the Tories, underlying a deep rejection of the two parties supporting the constitutional status quo.
From our perspective this political situation is not tenable and this wave of dissatisfaction is bound to overwhelm the current political set up.
At the moment it looks like a far right surge might be having the winning edge. Nigel Farage’s new political incarnation grows in the polls promising the lure of a British arm of a renewed Anglo-Saxon supremacism guided by Donald Trump. In such a pact Brexit would become the political tool to promote American aggressive mercantilism in Europe at the expense of migrants and European partnerships of any kind, starting from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Those of us that believe in democracy in Scotland as well as in the other British nations have a unique opportunity now to fight for a different direction, based on democracy, solidarity and respect for human rights and the planet.
Defending democracy in Britain must mean, first and foremost, demanding that the right of self-determination of all British nations is respected, starting with Scotland. It must mean reforming the electoral system to acknowledge the multi-party reality of British politics. It must mean discussing a new constitutional set up that an increasing number of people, particularly in Scotland, believe should be republican.
Crucially, this plan will require European solidarity and this is where we want to play our part.
Together with our friends at Yes for the EU we will travel to Brussels this Spring to strengthen Euro-Scottish bonds with MEPs, ask for Scotland to be part of the conversation on EU enlargement and discuss how this can help boost the ideals of European solidarity that are so precious to preserve at this crucial juncture for the world. We hope this will become an annual appointment and we ask you, if you’re in a position to do so, to consider supporting our plans with a small donation.
And to all those who plan to celebrate Burns night next Saturday have a lovely evening with poetry and music while our hearts are in the Highlands!
In European solidarity
EfS team
