Isaac Stanley-Becker: “A decade ago, Trump’s election seemed to open a trapdoor in democracy and reveal a realistic path to power for populist movements all over the world. Globalization was showing its ugly side, and voters were noticing. International institutions were creaking under the weight of mass migration; in their place, nationalism seemed poised for a comeback. People like Messerschmidt, but also Marine Le Pen in France and Alice Weidel in Germany, looked at America and thought, It can happen here. To speed the process, they even adopted Trump’s language: woke, witch hunt, fake news.”“These same politicians are now distancing themselves from Trump.”