Donald Trump’s ambassador to Germany said he will seek to buoy a conservative upwelling that is producing electoral victories across Europe.
“There are a lot of conservatives throughout Europe who have contacted me to say they are feeling there is a resurgence going on”, ambassador Richard Grenell told the far-right publication Breitbart.
With a series of latest European democracies elevating politicians who espouse a populist form of conservatism, Mr Grenell said he wanted “empower other conservatives throughout Europe”.
“I think there is a groundswell of conservative policies that are taking hold because of the failed policies of the left,” Mr Grenell said.
Ambassadors aren't supposed to ‘empower’ any political party overseas”, tweeted Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who sits on the Foreign Relations Committee and has been an outspoken critic of Mr Trump.
An anti-establishment message intertwined with hostility to immigration helped propel Mr Trump to victory - themes that have reverberated through a string of European elections. Mr Grenell cited that precedent as helping to inform his mandate.
“I look across the landscape and we’ve got a lot of work to do but I think the election of Donald Trump has empowered individuals and people to say that they can’t just allow the political class to determine before an election takes place, who’s going to win and who should run”, Mr Grenell said.
He offered praise for Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, calling him a “rock star”. The young leader of the conservative Austrian People’s Party has formed a coalition with the far-right Freedom Party.
The news organisation that won an exclusive interview with Mr Grenell has helped nourish the same political forces the German ambassador said he would cultivate.
Breitbart became a force in American politics through its rejection of mainstream Republicans and its focus on illegal immigration. Its former chairman Steve Breitbart helped instil those themes in the Trump presidential campaign, for which he was key strategic architect, and then in the White House.
