Keeping their distance

Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support. Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volo-dymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism by the new US administration, is strongest among the populist parties in western Europe and some Nordic countries. By contrast in eastern Europe, where parts of the electorate view Russia sympathetically, support for Trump remains undimmed. There are already tentative signs that governments in countries where leaders have taken a pro-Ukrainian line are enjoying a modest boost in support. For instance, Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Social Democrat prime minister, who has clashed with Trump by defending…