From Hungary’s Viktor Orban to Britain’s Nigel Farage, nationalist leaders who once cheered President Donald Trump are struggling to reconcile his renewed military interventionism with their anti-imperialist rhetoric
European far-right leaders who have long counted themselves among US President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters are showing signs of unease after the US military’s dramatic operation against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, highlighting growing tensions between Trump’s renewed interventionism and the nationalist, anti-imperialist rhetoric of his European admirers.
According to a France-based Le Monde newspaper, the discomfort was on display in Hungary on Monday (January 5) when Prime Minister Viktor Orban reacted with unusual caution to questions about Maduro’s abduction by US forces.
Speaking at his annual press conference, Orban avoided outright endorsement of the operation, saying only that Hungary was “considering whether this is good or bad” for the country.
He limited his comments to noting that Washington’s interest in Venezuela’s oil could push prices down, without clarifying his own stance, added the report.
Orban’s hesitancy was striking given his habitual praise of Trump.
While Hungary was the sole EU member state to refuse to sign a joint European statement urging respect for “the will of the Venezuelan people,” Orban downplayed the move, framing it as part of his broader opposition to a common EU foreign policy rather than explicit support for Washington.
According to the report, his caution reflects a wider malaise among Europe’s far right, particularly among parties whose ideological foundations rest on opposing US influence and foreign intervention.
Trump’s operation has forced them to comment on a clear-cut act of armed intervention carried out by an ally who had previously promised to end America’s role as the world’s policeman.
Europe’s far right splits over Trump’s intervention
In the UK, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage offered a response emblematic of this unease.
While calling the US action “unorthodox and contrary to international law,” he added that it might be justified if it made Russia and China “think twice.”
A long-time Trump supporter, Farage has until now avoided public criticism of Washington, but the scale of the intervention has made that position harder to sustain.
Similar ambiguity has emerged elsewhere.
In Germany, the leadership of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) remained silent for days.
Markus Frohnmaier, deputy leader of the party’s MPs, issued only a muted condemnation, describing the operation as an “infringement of other states’ sovereignty,” before later suggesting that questions of international law were ultimately secondary.
In Italy, divisions surfaced within the ruling coalition. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the US action as “legitimate,” while her deputy, Lega leader Matteo Salvini, criticised the intervention and argued that diplomacy should remain “the best way to resolve international disputes.”
Salvini’s position echoed that of France’s Marine Le Pen, who has kept a more cautious distance from the MAGA movement since Trump’s return to office.
Spain’s Vox party stands as an exception. With close ties to the Venezuelan opposition in exile, Vox has openly welcomed the US operation, framing it as support for restoring democracy, despite the White House playing down that objective.
Inability to offer an alternative
According to the report, beyond Venezuela, the episode has exposed what critics see as the far right’s inability to articulate a coherent alternative to the EU-led international order it so often denounces. Questions about Trump’s stated interest in Greenland further highlighted this dilemma.
Orban deflected the issue by referring to “internal Nato discussions,” again avoiding a clear position on a potential US move against European territory.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico offered one of the strongest rebukes, saying he “resolutely rejects” such breaches of international law and calling on the EU to pursue its own foreign policy to escape US influence.
Yet even Fico, known for his close ties to Russia, coupled this with criticism of what he called the EU’s “anti-Russian hatred,” underscoring the contradictions that continue to define Europe’s nationalist right.
As Trump’s foreign policy grows more assertive, those contradictions are becoming harder to ignore, raising questions about how durable his European fan base will remain.
With inputs from agencies
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