A new Hillary demographic: Europe’s center right - Main contents
The prospect of a Donald Trump presidency and the new look of the Republican party he now leads is causing some center-right European parties to rethink their political allegiances.
Hans van Baalen, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe party, said he used to support Ronald Reagan and John McCain over Democrats, but no longer. “The Republican Party has become a hostage of the Tea Party and the religious right,” van Baalen said. “The GOP is no longer the Grand Old Party of the past.”
Van Baalen added, “The populist right in Europe — [Marine] Le Pen, Wilders, [the Alternative for Germany], UKIP — see Trump as an ally. For the mainstream European parties there is not much to choose.”
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The speakers who left the biggest impression on European politicians here are Michelle and Barack Obama, in that order. Many expressed wonder at the poetry from the convention stage. Slovenian Socialist MEP Tanja Fajon was the first of many to tell POLITICO that her favorite moment was Michelle Obama saying “I wake up every morning in my house that was built by slaves,” while Van Baalen, the Dutch MEP, credits her with “saving the first day of the convention” after pro-Sanders protests threatened to derail it.