MAGA media’s criticism of the “deep state” goes global
MAGA media is railing against an international “deep state” following a series of setbacks for overseas allies of President Trump.
Why it matters: Trump’s loyal movement has sought to steadily expand its influence abroad, allying itself with right-wing parties and leaders in Europe, Latin America and Asia.
- Now, they’re denouncing legal challenges faced by some of those allies and are egged on by a leader in the White House eager to intervene in other countries’ affairs to enforce his worldview.
Zoom in: Marine Le Pen, the leader of a far-right French party, was convicted of embezzling European Parliament funds Monday and deemed ineligible to stand in French elections for the next five years. Trump called the verdict a “very big deal.”
- “She was banned for running for five years, and she’s the leading candidate. That sounds like this country,” he added.
- Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is being prosecuted for allegedly staging a failed coup after losing reelection in 2022.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is fending off corruption allegations while Israel wages war in Gaza.
Between the lines: The MAGAverse draws parallels between those cases and the criminal prosecutions of Trump before his return to office.
- At the same time, prominent Trump allies in the media are using the foreign case to attack U.S. judges for blocking Trump’s executive orders.
What they’re saying: “They’ll do anything to stop a nationalist populist movement of Europe,” well-connected podcaster Charlie Kirk said on his show Monday, while also raising the prospect that Trump could tariff France over the ruling.
- “This is exactly what Trump is facing here in the United States with these judges, with these radical judges,” Steve Bannon, a top adviser in Trump’s term, said on his “War Room” podcast.
- “We told you that the legal profession is kind of their last bastion that they own and control, whether it’s in Brazil, whether it’s in the United States of America, whether it’s in France, in Israel they got the same thing.”
