Two weeks ago, Georgia’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, announced it would pause the nation’s accession talks with the European Union until at least 2028 and refuse all E.U. funding until then. The move, contradicting the Georgian constitution, which mandates the country work toward E.U. membership, led to resignations of government officials and sparked widespread demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi.
For several consecutive nights, thousands of people have been gathering outside the parliament building to protest what they see as a turn away from the West and toward Putin’s Russia. Every night, the protesters are beaten, tear-gassed, and, in the freezing Georgian winter, sprayed with cold water.
It seems as if we’re playing a game of whack-a-mole against far-right leaders popping up all over the world. In Romania, Călin Georgescu, a Putin apologist, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and captured 22 percent of the vote in the country’s presidential election. In South Korea, a right-wing president declared martial law and attempted a coup d’état.
In countries like Israel, where nationalist sentiments are on the rise, or France, where Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party won the majority in the National Assembly—and recently toppled the French government through a no-confidence vote—populist leaders are challenging established democratic institutions.
These movements, though varied in their specifics, follow Donald Trump’s blueprint: capitalize on public discontent, stoke nationalist sentiment, get elected, and, once in office, undermine democratic norms to remain in power—preferably well beyond the constitutional limits.
For Trump, the right-wing wave is a major victory, since the world’s leaders are finally going to speak a language he understands, and he’ll no longer be an outcast. In turn, Trump’s re-election doesn’t just embolden the far-right populists of the world; it secures them. Now a high-carb dinner at Mar-a-Lago can ensure that America, with its annoying habit of defending human rights and holding dictators accountable, is going to stay out of their backyard.
The Illiberal World Order
Speaking at a press conference on November 30, Georgian prime minister Irakli Kobakhidze said that the primary responsibility for the unrest lies with “European politicians and bureaucrats, as well as with their local agents—the fifth column,” by which he means members of any party other than his own.
Georgian Dream is the brainchild of Bidzina Ivanishvili—Georgia’s Elon Musk and Donald Trump rolled into one—an eccentric billionaire whose estimated $7.7 billion net worth equals a whopping 25 percent of Georgia’s G.D.P. He made his fortune in 1990s Russia, importing computers and exporting metals, and eventually launching one of Russia’s most successful banks.
Starting in 2011, Ivanishvili began using his vast wealth to create a de facto alternative budget, financing urban-development projects in Georgia, buying equipment for its army, and injecting cash directly into people’s pockets—including those of a number of politicians. He served as prime minister, but even after he stepped down, Ivanishvili, whose official title is the modest “honorary chairman of the Georgian Dream party,” remains the most powerful person in the country. Predictably, Bidzina uses that power to spread conspiracy theories, curb press freedoms, and roll back L.G.B.T.Q. rights.
In October, his party secured 54 percent of the vote in the parliamentary election, but the opposition and Western governments argue that the election was marred by violations and Russian influence. In late November, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for new legislative elections in Georgia. Georgian Dream denies these accusations.
Ivanishvili’s brand of politics is hardly unique. Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has restricted media freedom and weakened judicial independence. Orbán, whose country is a member of NATO and the European Union, is a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin—the two organizations’ No. 1 enemy.
In Italy, the ascent of the Brothers of Italy signifies a shift toward nationalist and conservative policies and an aversion to deeper integration into the European Union. Ironically, the prevalence of Euro-skepticism among European authoritarians marks a departure from the Continent’s centuries-old tradition of dictators trying to unite Europe by force.
Outside Europe, in Israel—a country that labels itself the only democracy in the Middle East—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly tried to undermine the judicial system in the name of government efficiency. After nationwide protests, he seemed to abandon the idea of Ramaswamy-ing the Supreme Court, only to become a wartime leader with an irredentist, ultra-nationalist rhetoric reminiscent of Putin’s.
Ironically, the prevalence of Euro-skepticism among European authoritarians marks a departure from the Continent’s centuries-old tradition of dictators trying to unite Europe by force.
And then there’s the United States, where, much like everything else, right-wing authoritarians come supersized—with their own TV shows, baseball hats, and, strangely enough, Bibles.
There are a million theories as to why this is happening. Some on the right say it’s because of the all-gender restrooms and the perception of open borders, while many on the left see the unfolding of Putin’s plan for world domination. But the former is by no measure a global issue, and the latter is a conspiracy theory.
As someone who was so fascinated with Russian politics that he ended up working (briefly) for the Kremlin, I can tell you that its apparatchiks are incapable of engineering foreign elections, buying off Elon Musk, or controlling your social-media feed, however much they would like to do all these things. Russia is in its third year of war with a country it thought it could destroy in three days.
The reality is a bit more depressing. It’s not the authoritarian leaders that keep popping up—it’s the growing share of these countries’ electorates ready to vote for any leader that promises them a simple solution to a complex problem.
And then there’s the United States, where, much like everything else, right-wing authoritarians come supersized—with their own TV shows, baseball hats, and, strangely enough, Bibles.
That’s not to say that right-wing populist moles can’t be whacked. Just a few days ago, when the president of South Korea accused his political opponents of being agents of North Korea and attempted a coup d’état by declaring martial law, lawmakers forced their way past soldiers into the parliament to nullify the decree, as protesters demanded the ousting of President Yoon Suk Yeol and vowed to prevent a return to the country’s troubled authoritarian era.
After Romanian intelligence services declassified reports that link the unexpected rise of the ultra-nationalist and Putin-apologist candidate to a Russian TikTok influence operation, the country’s Constitutional Court annulled the first round of election results.
In an attempt to whack Ivanishvili, Georgian Dream, and, by extension, Moscow’s influence, Georgia’s president, Salome Zourabichvili, joined the protesters in the streets. She vowed to stay in office past her term if Georgian Dream proceeds with its attempt to rob Georgia of its European future. She called the nation’s parliament illegitimate and, as such, any president that the parliament elects on December 14 would be illegitimate, too. Zourabichvili vowed to remain in office when her term ends December 29, which could lead to a constitutional crisis.
Something similar happened in Ukraine in 2014, when the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) ousted Kremlin-backed politicians. In a matter of weeks, Moscow, seeing as it was not able to control Ukraine through political means, annexed Crimea and parts of the Donbas region by force. There’s a risk that in Georgia, where Russian troops already control about one-fifth of the country, Moscow might be inclined to invade.
There has been a lot of hand-wringing since Trump’s re-election over whether Joe Biden should have dropped out sooner, or whether Kamala Harris needed a “Sister Souljah moment,” or whether the Democrats should have played dirty and gone full populist for the sake of winning the election. But when you consider what’s happening in Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Israel, and countless other nations, it’s clear that we’re far from alone. The game of whack-a-mole continues, but the way things are going, it’s we who are soon going to be the moles.
Andrew Ryvkin is a screenwriter, journalist, and Russian-affairs specialist
