Trump-style nationalism surges across globe. Will France be next with Le Pen reprise?

French politician and lawyer Marine Le Pen has launched a new candidacy for the French presidency, hoping to ride a global political pendulum as it swings from socialism and leftism back toward the right. 

"I do think you're seeing all that take place. But populism, focusing on what's best, what's common sense, what's good for the people of your country, what's good for your country, is, I think, the right approach," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Just The News.

Voters in country after country appear to have grown weary of the same experiment: ballooning welfare states, open-border policies, identity-driven governance, and supranational rules that delivered stagnation, insecurity, and a quiet erosion of national sovereignty. 

A recent report by the U.S. Commerce Department found: "Confidence in the government’s ability to implement necessary structural reforms remains weak, with most investors anticipating continued economic deterioration and a persistently negative investment sentiment.

The nationalist shift

With a Le Pen victory, France could be the latest stop on a correction already visible in nations such as Italy, where Giorgia Meloni, of the Brothers of Italy party became prime minister in 2022, leading a right-wing coalition government. 

Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration Party for Freedom won the largest share of seats in the Netherlands’ 2023 legislative elections and joined a governing coalition. 

Sweden’s center-right bloc took power in 2022 with parliamentary support from the nationalist Sweden Democrats. 

More recently, conservative nationalist Karol Nawrocki, backed by the Law and Justice party, narrowly won Poland’s presidential runoff in June 2025.

Still, Le Pen, who served as president of the far-right National Rally party from 2011 to 202, has lost presidential bids in 2012, 2017, and 2022. And she plans to compete for the 2027 vote after a court shortened her ban Tuesday on running for office. She was convicted last year of playing a key role in the embezzlement of European parliamentary funds through a large-scale fake jobs scam.

NATO and its factions

Meanwhile, several NATO member nations have largely resisted or not yet experienced the broader rightward nationalist shift seen elsewhere in the alliance. 

Spain continues to be governed by a Socialist-led coalition under Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with the left-leaning PSOE remaining the largest party despite gains by the right-wing Vox. However, its economy is expected to significantly outpace the wider euro area this year, benefiting from higher labor productivity and a strengthening fiscal position, according to Goldman Sachs Research.

The United Kingdom’s Labour Party, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, secured a decisive victory in the 2024 general election and holds power as a centrist-left government even as Reform UK has polled strongly on the right. 

Canada’s Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney, has enacted socially liberal initiatives, including formally recognizing the so-called State of Palestine and leveraging his climate finance background to force a green climate agenda.

Norway remains under a center-left Labour government, while Denmark is led by the Social Democrats in a minority or coalition arrangement. 

Without USAID, Central and South America de-globalize

In 2023, Argentina’s libertarian Javier Milei won the presidency and has since taken a metaphorical chainsaw to the nation's debt and voluminous government. 

Since then, and since USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) was gutted by Trump's DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), so-called right-wing candidates secured a string of victories across Central and South America. 

In Bolivia, right-leaning Rodrigo Paz defeated the long-ruling left-wing Movement for Socialism in the 2025 presidential election. 

Honduras voters chose Nasry Asfura of the right-wing National Party in November 2025. José Antonio Kast of the right won Chile’s presidential runoff in December 2025. 

Laura Fernández prevailed for the right in Costa Rica’s February 2026 election. 

Keiko Fujimori won Peru’s June 2026 contest, and hard-right candidate Abelardo de la Espriella narrowly defeated his opponent in Colombia’s presidential runoff later that month. 

These outcomes followed reductions in USAID funding that some analysts had previously associated with support for democratic initiatives and left-leaning political efforts in the region.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​