The true "far right" and "far left" are never elected, Cata; they just take power by force.
During his campaign, Hofer was compared to Donald Trump for his anti-immigration stance, carried a 9mm glock with him everywhere he goes, and has claimed increases in gun ownership in Austria are linked to immigration.
Anti-immigration, in the current state of Europe, is a great thing. If I were european, above anything I'd classify myself as "EUROPEAN", not "AUSTRIAN", "FRENCH", "POLISH" or whatever. And as it is Europe is going under a severe loss of cultural influence and value; you no longer see an estabilished german, french, british or polish culture. You see "a bunch of westerners". In this situation, letting in people overly nationalistic and that value their culture far too much (arabs and berbers) leads to cultural assimilation.
And I don't see how "carrying a gun with him everywhere he goes" is a bad thing. Self-defense. Specially important if you are a well-known person with a fair amount of haters.
Hofer's key message was one of immigration control. Last year, roughly 90,000 migrants settled in Austria, a number Hofer sees as far too high. He promised to try and curb further migration from outside of Europe and also reportedly vowed to carry out the deportation of Muslims.
Deportation is a bad idea for a multitude of reasons, but a closed border, in modern Europe, definetely is not.
Hofer also advocated repatriating the Italian territory of South Tyrol, which was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Hofer proposed the idea in a speech in 2015 and has since said that one way of achieving this could be to give people in the area dual Italian and Austrian nationality.
This idea is actually quite interesting, since Trentino/Südtirol has a large population of both nations. And the two have no border conflict, great relations and are part of the EU and Schengen, so there's no real backdraw from this other than a potential loss of territory for Italy, but considering that region has nearly nothing too valuable for either country, a dual nationality region would be a win for Austria, a win for the people living there and cause no negative effects on Italy.
By the way, if he were truly in the far right, he'd just drop in armies in the location and call it a day. The extremes don't really care about diplomacy.
Hofer is a huge advocate for guns, carrying a 9mm Glock pistol around with him on the campaign trail.
As I mentioned before, this is no big deal in any way.
He has said that he understands the increase in gun ownership in Austria, "given current uncertainties," and says that gun ownership is a "natural consequence" of immigration. It is reported that Hofer has previously posted images on social media of him at a firing range with his family. Business Insider was unable to find these pictures.
...Why can't the poor guy have a goddamn gun around? Jesus, he gets called far-right in Europe for bearing arms? Holy hell. 90% of the article is the guy being bashed for having weapons. If you like comparing him to Hitler, just sayin', Hitler was an advocate of disarmment.
Hofer has been described by some commentators as the "Austrian Donald Trump" for his strong stance on immigration, populist politics, and promises to put "Austria First," a slogan that it has been suggested, draws inspiration from Trump's famous "Make America Great Again" battle cry.
Nationalism in a global scale would be better off if non-existant. But in a world where nationalism isn't easily abandoned, it's better for the sake of you and all those under you that you have a hint of it. The president of Austria musn't govern for the best of the hungarians, italians, germans, swiss or slovenes, but to the best of austrians. Can't he like his country just because of it's past?
Speaking of which; populism, nationalism, and basically everything mentioned insofar goes against the basic rule about the right wing: NO GOVERNMENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN ECONOMICS! Right-wing =/= Authoritatian. Much like Left-wing =/= Liberal.
And "populism", here, is a very notably centrist characteristic with a small lean towards the left *cough Dilma cough Lula cough Vargas cough*. I don't know where the hell Europe got it that it's a right-wing characteristic.
While there are big comparisons to be seen between Hofer and Trump, the Austrian is nowhere near as fiery in his rhetoric. He is famously soft spoken, speaking quietly and thoughtfully.
Which is great. As funny as Trump is, that's not quite how you handle diplomacy. And the first and most important thing the heads of state must do is diplomacy/speeches.
He also denies that he is a right-wing politician. According to the Guardian, Hofer said in a recent interview that he is "to the left of the US Democrats."
He might as well be. What I've seen so far indicates authoritarianism. I have not seen any economic policy; which is what defines the side he's on.
Hofer has portrayed himself as the "Stimme der Vernunft" or the "Voice of reason."
Beautiful name, but too arrogant, bruh.
Austria's presidency is a ceremonial role, and the most important power held by the president is the ability to dissolve Austria's parliament. But Hofer had said he would try to extend his powers.
Very suggestive.
Hofer said he would also refuse to sign the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal, as he believes it would infringe on Austria's sovereignty.
Well? Didn't you hate the TTIP? There he goes, actively giving the finger to it.
One of the biggest concerns in some circles about Hofer's near success is that it could help to galvanise other far-right parties across Europe. Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's Front National is expected to reach the second round of next year's presidential election, while in Germany, Alternative for Deutschland — an anti-Islamic party — has also experienced a gain in popularity.
Naturally, every time a country has turmoil on the horizon, authoritarianism gains power. From both sides.
The Netherlands has also seen a rise in the popularity of the Party of Freedom, which now tops the polls. The party is headed by Geert Wilders, who was banned from entering the UK for his role in creating anti-Islamic film Fitna.
>"Democratic" nation
>Banning people for expressing their opinion
Democracy works like that. It's everyone's right to be stupid at any given time without interference. The really questionable authoritarianism in all of this history is the UK, which issues bans to international leaders after claiming to be defenders of democracy for so long.
