Europe’s far right is rejoicing as the world wakes up to a bigger upset than Brexit—Donald Trump has won the US presidential election.
The 45th president has come into power by promising to shake up the nation’s political establishment. Trump will likely repeal ObamaCare, push the Supreme Court to the hard right, and has vowed to put an end to what he’s described as “massive illegal immigration.”
Europe’s far right is hailing Trump’s success as a victory for their own nationalist, anti-immigration stance. Nigel Farage—who has stood by Trump throughout his campaign—was quick to congratulate him, describing his win as a political revolution that is “bigger than Brexit.”
Farage was joined by a number of other far right politicians as the night wore on. Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s Front National (FN), tweeted: “Congratulations to the new president of the United States Donald Trump and to the American people, free! MLP [her initials].”
Florian Philippot, one of the five vice presidents of the FN and one of Le Pen’s senior strategist also congratulated Trump, adding, “The people will not let their choices be dictated by an oligarchy defeated once more after Brexit”
In Germany, the far right, anti-immigration politician Beatrix von Storch, described the result as a “historical electoral success,” in a statement on Facebook. “The success of Donald Trump is a signal that the citizens of the Western world want a clear political change,” she wrote.
Geert Wilders, founder of the Dutch far-right Freedom party, also took to Twitter to welcome the result, insisting that Americans have taken their country back and that the Netherlands will follow soon.
It’s not just the European far right warmly welcoming Trump’s electoral success, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke described Trump’s win as as a huge victory for “our people.”