2026-02-17T05:00:46.237Z / CNN
唐纳德·特朗普总统似乎时常感到沮丧，因为许多美国人并未意识到自己正生活在他所谓的”黄金时代”。
但这并没有阻止他通过干预国外政治和选举来推广或维护右翼民粹主义领导人，从而输出自己的意识形态。这就解释了为何国务卿马尔科·卢比奥本周要在4月大选前，前往匈牙利支持亲俄总理欧尔班。
欧尔班作为一位民粹主义强硬领导人，早在”MAGA”（让美国再次伟大）运动出现之前就是该理念的践行者。他将司法系统政治化、推行强硬移民政策、扶持亲己寡头并攻击媒体，这些都为特朗普的第二任期提供了蓝本。但现在，他正面临执政15年来最严峻的政治挑战。
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卢比奥此次访问欧尔班（后者常试图破坏欧盟对乌克兰的政策、监管美国科技巨头及能源政策），是对那些试图自欺欺人认为欧尔班在慕尼黑安全会议上的温和表态意味着跨大西洋紧张局势缓和的欧洲人的直接反驳。
这也是卢比奥个人政治立场转变的最新一步，这对他在特朗普政府中的职位安全和共和党未来政治前景至关重要。2019年，当时还是佛罗里达州参议员的卢比奥曾与两党同僚共同谴责欧尔班治下”显著侵蚀”的民主制度。但到了周一，卢比奥却对欧尔班表示：”我们正进入两国关系的黄金时代——这不仅是因为两国人民的立场一致，更是因为您与美国总统的关系。”
然而，远不止卢比奥个人野心面临考验。特朗普政府在匈牙利大选中支持欧尔班，是美国外交政策向右翼化转变的最新信号，也是对传统立场的背离。一些欧洲人已将这个长期的保护者视为日益增长的政治威胁。
这也反映出，在特朗普声称美国选举系统受欺诈困扰（即将中期选举）之际，白宫正越来越愿意介入他国国内政治。特朗普已试图影响阿根廷、巴西、洪都拉斯和波兰的选民或选举结果，并宣称自己在驱逐马杜罗后正在从椭圆形办公室遥控委内瑞拉。
特朗普的行动并非一时兴起。他在新的美国国家安全战略中明确表达了目标，称赞欧洲”爱国政党影响力不断增强”——这主要指法国国民联盟、英国改革党和德国另类选择党等右翼民粹主义和反移民政党，它们正试图推翻特朗普日常打交道的全球领导人。
去年慕尼黑会议上，副总统JD·万斯构建了一个植根于基督教的理想化西欧形象，称其正面临来自穆斯林和非白人为主的移民浪潮的威胁。今年，卢比奥发出了类似警告，但措辞更外交化。
他坚称华盛顿不想要”附庸国”，而是希望建立强大的欧盟伙伴关系，并承诺结束威胁欧洲大陆的乌克兰战争。但他的讲话也暗示，除非欧洲大陆接受”MAGA”对西方文明的看法，否则美国对欧洲的防御承诺将存疑。
“大规模移民过去不是、现在不是、将来也不是无关紧要的边缘问题，”卢比奥在慕尼黑表示，”它过去是、现在仍然是一场危机，正在改变并破坏整个西方社会的稳定。”
这位美国国务卿不仅代表特朗普发声，更用特朗普的模式迎合了欧洲民粹主义政党支持者对自由派建制派的反抗。许多此类选民认为，他们的社会民主或温和派领导人未能守住欧洲边界，正如美国民主党人未能做到的那样；他们还将蓝领工作岗位流失和工业生产衰退归咎于全球化。
然而，主流欧洲政客警告民粹主义对稳定和民主构成威胁。欧洲各地的战场公墓（包括数千名美国军人的坟墓）时刻提醒着人们右翼民粹主义民族主义的危险。他们憎恶特朗普的政策，认为美国在移民问题上的警告违背了欧洲人权和融合的价值观。
法国总统马克龙等领导人正反击美国对其试图阻止美国社交媒体传播虚假信息的报复威胁；他们也对特朗普政府称欧洲社会”病态”的说法表示不满。”与某些人说法相反：觉醒、颓废的欧洲并未面临文明消亡。事实上，人们仍渴望加入我们的阵营，”欧盟委员会副主席卡娅·卡拉斯周末在慕尼黑表示。
这种日益扩大的意识形态和哲学分歧表明，欧美之间的紧张关系远不止北约成员国多年缩减国防预算导致的脆弱性那么简单。
特朗普的政策一贯充满矛盾和不一致。尽管意识形态更接近英国改革党和法国国民联盟，他却与英国首相基尔·斯塔默、有时甚至与马克龙关系良好；他对支持欧盟的意大利民粹主义总理梅洛尼也表现出友好，尽管他对欧盟嗤之以鼻。
讽刺的是，特朗普在国内极不受欢迎（支持率跌破40%）的情况下，仍坚持不懈地向国外输出其理念。共和党领导人担忧中期选举失利，而美国多数民众是否接受其世界观，更不用说欧洲了，目前尚无明显迹象。考虑到特朗普在欧洲民调中的不受欢迎度，他施压欧洲接受”MAGA”价值观的行动能否成功，尚无定论。
但美国批评人士担心，特朗普与欧尔班的”协同效应”远不止意识形态一致那么简单。匈牙利总理通过削弱反对党选举竞争力、侵蚀保护异议权和选民选择权的法律保障，为特朗普的言行提供了现实模板。
匈牙利的发展轨迹长期以来让华盛顿担忧。2019年，卢比奥曾向参议院外交关系委员会同僚——共和党议员吉姆·里施、民主党议员珍妮·沙欣和前参议员罗伯特·梅嫩德斯——提及此事，”在欧尔班统治下，选举过程已不再具有竞争性，司法机构日益被国家控制，”参议员们当时写道，”媒体自由下滑，独立媒体的广告投放受到强力劝阻，所有权被豁免反垄断监管的基金会垄断。”
在特朗普第二任期内，这些描述听起来更像是对欧尔班所作所为的谴责，还是对其明显野心的预示？无论如何，卢比奥周一向匈牙利选民明确表态：”只要您担任总理和国家领导人，匈牙利的成功就符合我们的国家利益。”
在此次访问斯洛伐克（由另一个亲特朗普政府领导）时，卢比奥不仅给予欧尔班道义支持，还承诺提供美国财政援助，暗示选民的福祉取决于一位坚决反对欧盟的总理。
“如果您面临经济困难，如果您面临阻碍增长的障碍，如果您面临威胁国家稳定的因素，我知道特朗普总统会非常感兴趣——因为您与他的关系，以及这个国家对我们的重要性，我们会寻求提供援助，”卢比奥表示。
特朗普曾多次用经济力量干预他国政治：在阿根廷，他以200亿美元经济援助为条件，要求盟友阿根廷总统米莱及其政党继续执政，”如果他不赢，我们就会离开”。
此外，他还通过赦免权释放前洪都拉斯总统埃尔南德斯，使其免于45年贩毒徒刑，被视为影响选民的举动；上周，他升级了对以色列总理内塔尼亚胡的支持，要求解除对其刑事威胁，甚至批评以色列总统赫尔佐格”可耻”未特赦内塔尼亚胡，”我认为以色列人民应该谴责他”，这是对他国司法程序的惊人干预。
类似的例子还包括去年对巴西进口商品加征50%关税，只因巴西起诉其朋友前总统博索纳罗涉嫌政变。目前，全球正关注特朗普是否会在增兵同时寻求新核协议之际，兑现轰炸伊朗的威胁——此前他曾警告”如果伊朗继续镇压抗议者，美国已准备就绪”。但任何无法实现政权更迭的协议或军事打击，都将让示威者暴露在危险中。
特朗普的支持者或许会反驳称，美国自越南、伊拉克、阿富汗战争及在西半球和中东发动政变以来，一直有干预他国内政的传统。但政府对欧洲的政策尤为引人注目——公开支持可能侵蚀民主标准和自由的势力，这些势力公然利用种族政治，还提及欧洲民族主义泛滥的血腥历史。美国传统上视欧洲民主为外交政策的重大胜利，曾在二战后重建欧洲。而特朗普却将这一胜利及冷战胜利彻底颠覆。
在人们的记忆中，历任美国国务卿都曾与东欧异见人士站在一起对抗强人政权。但在布达佩斯，卢比奥却反其道而行之。
While MAGA faces challenges at home, Rubio seeks to export it abroad
2026-02-17T05:00:46.237Z / CNN
President Donald Trump often seems frustrated that many Americans don’t appreciate that they are living in his “golden age.”
But that’s not stopping him from trying to export his ideology by intervening in politics and elections abroad to promote or preserve right-wing populist leaders. This explains Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s mission this week to bolster Hungary’s pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Orbán ahead of April’s general election.
Orbán, a populist strongman, was MAGA before MAGA existed. His politicizing of the justice system, hardline immigration policies, empowerment of sympathetic oligarchs and attacks on the press are a blueprint for Trump’s second term. But he’s facing his biggest political challenge in 15 years of uninterrupted power.
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Rubio’s visit to Orbán — who often seeks to undermine EU policy on Ukraine, regulating US tech giants and energy policy — is a rebuke to those Europeans who tried to convince themselves that his respectful tone at the Munich Security Conference at the weekend represented a taming of transatlantic tensions.
It is also the latest step in a personal evolution important to Rubio’s job security in the Trump administration and future political prospects in a changed GOP. In 2019, the then-Florida senator joined bipartisan colleagues in bemoaning “significantly eroded” democracy under Orbán. But on Monday, Rubio told Orbán, “We are entering this golden era of relations between our countries – and not simply because of the alignment of our peoples, but because of the relationship that you have with the president of the United States.”
But more than Rubio’s personal ambition is at stake. The Trump administration’s backing of Orbán in Hungary’s election is the latest sign of an institutionalized shift to the right in US foreign policy, and a rejection of traditional stances. Some Europeans now regard their longtime protector as a growing political threat.
And it reflects the growing willingness of the White House — amid new Trump claims that the US election system is plagued by fraud ahead of the midterm elections — to insert itself into the domestic politics of foreign states. Trump has already tried to influence voters or shape elections in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras and Poland, and claims to be running Venezuela from the Oval Office after ousting President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump isn’t acting on a whim. He’s codified his goals in the new US national security strategy, which praises the “growing influence of patriotic European parties” in Europe. This refers to right-wing populist and anti-immigrant parties like the National Rally in France, Reform in the UK and the AfD in Germany, which are seeking to oust the global leaders with whom Trump deals every day.
At Munich last year, Vice President JD Vance conjured an idealized view of Western Europe rooted in Christianity at risk of being destroyed by a wave of immigration from Muslim and majority non-White nations. This year, Rubio delivered a similar message, albeit cushioned with more diplomatic finesse.
He insisted that Washington doesn’t want “vassal” states but strong EU partners and that it is committed to ending the Ukraine war threatening the continent. But his speech was also a broad hint that unless the continent adopted MAGA’s view of Western civilization, America’s defense of Europe would be in question.
“Mass migration is not, was not, isn’t some fringe concern of little consequence,” Rubio said in Munich. “It was and continues to be a crisis, which is transforming and destabilizing societies all across the West.”
The US secretary of state was not just speaking for Trump. He channeled supporters of populist parties rebelling against liberal establishments in European states using Trump’s model. Many such voters believe their social democratic or moderate leaders failed to secure the continent’s borders, just as Democrats failed to do in the US, and they blame globalization for wrecking blue-collar jobs and industrial production.
But mainstream European politicians warn populists are a threat to stability and democracy. Their people are also reminded of the dangers of right-wing populist nationalism by the battlefield cemeteries that dot their nations — which include thousands of American graves. They abhor Trump’s policies, and they regard US warnings on immigration as antithetical to European values on human rights and integration.
Leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron push back against US threats to retaliate for their attempts to stem the torrent of misinformation from American-owned social media networks. And they balk at the Trump administration’s claim that their society is sick. “Contrary to what some may say: Woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure. In fact, people still want to join our club,” European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas said in Munich at the weekend.
This widening ideological and philosophical disconnect shows that transatlantic tensions between Europe and the US go far beyond years of crimped defense budgets from many NATO members that have left them vulnerable to Trump’s lectures.
As is often the case with Trump, his policy is inconsistent and plagued by contradictions. He’s had good relations with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and sometimes Macron, despite being closer ideologically to Reform and the National Rally. And he’s friendly with Italy’s populist Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni despite her strong support for the European Union that he disdains.
And there’s also irony in Trump’s relentless effort to spread his message abroad since he’s rarely been so unpopular at home. His approval ratings have plunged below 40% and Republican leaders fear a midterm election rout. There are few signs that a majority in the US embraces his worldview, let alone in Europe. Given Trump’s unpopularity in polls of Europeans, there’s no guarantee his pressure for them to adopt MAGA values will work.
But this US political backdrop has Trump critics fearing the Trump-Orbán synergy is about more than shared ideology. The Hungarian prime minister has made it harder for opposition parties to beat him in elections while eroding legal protections that preserve the right to dissent and the right of voters to choose their leaders. There’s a strong echo in Trump’s recent rhetoric.
Hungary’s trajectory has long concerned Washington. Take it from Rubio himself. He raised the issue with senior Senate Foreign Relations Committee colleagues Republican Sen. Jim Risch and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and former Sen. Robert Menendez in 2019. “Under Orbán, the election process has become less competitive, and the judiciary is increasingly controlled by the state,” the senators wrote. “Press freedom has declined as advertisers have been strongly discouraged from placing ads in independent outlets and ownership has been consolidated under a foundation that is exempt from antitrust regulation.”
In Trump’s second term, this reads less like an indictment of Orbán’s transgressions than a description of the president’s evident aspirations. Still, Rubio on Monday made clear to Hungarian voters where he and Trump stand. “It’s in our national interest — especially as long as you’re the prime minister and the leader of this country — it’s in our national interest that Hungary be successful.”
On a trip that also featured a stop in Slovakia, which is led by another Trump-friendly government, Rubio did not just offer Orbán moral support. He also dangled the promise of US financial aid to convince voters their well-being depends on a prime minister who is a vehement internal critic of the European Union.
“If you face financial struggles, if you face things that are impediments to growth, if you face things that threaten the stability of your country, I know that President Trump will be very interested because of your relationship with him and because of the importance of this country to us, to finding ways to provide assistance if that moment ever were to arise,” Rubio said.
Trump has tried this before, and it worked. He used America’s economic power to warn voters in Argentina that a $20 billion economic bailout was contingent on his friend Argentine President and MAGA hero Javier Milei’s party remaining in power. “If he doesn’t win, we’re gone,” Trump said.
The US president has used his power in other ways to shift politics in foreign nations — including with his ouster of Maduro last month and his assumption of control over Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
Last year, he strongly backed Nasry Asfura, the winner of the Honduran presidential election. He also wielded his pardon power to free former President Juan Orlando Hernández from a 45-year drug trafficking sentence in the US, a move that was widely seen as an attempt to sway voters.
Last week, he escalated his campaign for the lifting of the criminal threat over his friend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In an extraordinary outburst, Trump lambasted President Isaac Herzog as “disgraceful” for not granting a pardon. “I think the people of Israel should really shame him,” Trump said in a stunning intervention into another country’s judicial process.
This was not the first time he’d pulled such a move. Last year, he slapped a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports over the criminal prosecution of his friend and former President Jair Bolsonaro for an alleged coup.
And the world is currently braced to see whether Trump will follow through on threats to bomb Iran as he builds up US forces while simultaneously seeking a new nuclear and missile deal. He had previously warned that the US was “locked and loaded” if Iran continued with a brutal crackdown on protesters. But a deal or military attacks that stopped short of the risky and legally questionable goal of regime change would leave demonstrators exposed.
Trump’s supporters might rightfully argue Washington has always played politics abroad after launching foreign wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and starting coups and covert action across the Western Hemisphere and Middle East.
But the administration’s Europe policy is notable for openly siding with forces that could erode democratic standards and freedoms and that openly trade in racial politics and invoke a continent’s bloody past of rampant nationalism. Washington has traditionally seen European democracy as a great foreign policy triumph, having rebuilt the continent after liberating it from the Nazis. Trump has turned that victory and the subsequent one in the Cold War on its head.
Within living memory, American secretaries of state stood with dissidents against strongmen in Eastern Europe. In Budapest, Rubio did the opposite.
