https://www.axios.com/2025/06/01/poland-election-maga-bannon-europe?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

MAGA's world tour exports Trumpism beyond U.S. borders

• Tal Axelrod

• 
  

Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios

MAGA media heavyweights are intervening in elections around the world, increasingly obsessed with exporting President Trump's brand of right-wing populism beyond America's borders.

Why it matters: What began as a nationalist reaction to America's perceived decline has evolved into a global ideological crusade. Now at the apex of its domestic power, MAGA is rallying behind candidates who share its views on immigration, globalism and the fight for "Western Civilization."

• "We believe the fight for freedom and conservative values doesn't stop at America's borders," Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) chair Matt Schlapp told Axios.
• "That's why we've taken CPAC overseas — to stand united with courageous leaders and citizens who are resisting the globalist dangerous spread of authoritarianism, open borders, and Marxism."

Driving the news: MAGA-aligned candidates have been competitive in a spate of recent elections, emboldening pro-Trump influencers to engage more actively in foreign politics.

Poland: Conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki is headed to runoff Sunday against liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, in a race MAGA media is treating as a bellwether for Europe's political right.

• CPAC just held its first-ever event in Poland, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem took the extraordinary step of endorsing Nawrocki and denouncing Trzaskowski as a "an absolute train wreck."

Romania: MAGA leaders — including Vice President Vance — excoriated Romanian authorities for annulling the results of December's election and banning the leading far-right candidate over allegations of Russian interference.

• In last week's re-run, MAGA podcasters like Jack Posobiec and Steve Bannon rallied behind pro-Trump candidate George Simion, who even described himself as running "on the MAGA ticket"
• Simion ultimately fell short to centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, a result that MAGA blamed on globalist meddling.

United Kingdom: The insurgent Reform Party, led by arch Brexiteer and Bannon friend Nigel Farage, is leading in British polls less than a year after the center-left Labour Party won a landslide election.

• Farage has brought MAGA-style rallies to the U.K., and his growing influence has forced Prime Minister Keir Starmer to move sharply to the right on immigration.

Germany: Vance, Elon Musk and scores of pro-Trump influencers have championed the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which had its best-ever showing in elections earlier this year.

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned German intelligence's since-retracted decision to classify AfD as a right-wing extremist organization, calling it "tyranny in disguise."

Ireland: Former UFC champion Conor McGregor has teased a longshot bid for the Irish presidency on an anti-immigration platform.

• McGregor was hosted by Trump at the White House on St. Patrick's Day, and appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast in April.

South Korea: Bannon recorded a segment of his show Tuesday boosting the conservative candidate in South Korea's June 3 snap presidential election.

• Some MAGA figures have spread the theory that former conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol — impeached and removed after declaring martial law — was ousted in a China-backed coup.

Between the lines: MAGA's foreign focus isn't entirely new: Trump supporters have long idolized populist strongmen like Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil.

• But the movement is no longer just cheering on incumbents: It's actively trying to shape new political outcomes.
• "The good news is that after 10 long years, the institutional MAGA movement realizes the power in having friends overseas," said Raheem Kassam, former Farage adviser and current editor of The National Pulse.

Reality check: Despite its rising international ambitions, MAGA's influence abroad has yielded mixed results.

• The AfD has been shut out of government in Germany, Simion lost in Romania, the liberal candidate is favored to win in South Korea, and McGregor might not even make the ballot in Ireland.
• Kassam told Axios the losses had piled up because American MAGA lacks political infrastructure abroad — and mistakes brash rhetoric for true rage-against-the-machine populism.
• A win in Poland would be a major symbolic victory — and a sign MAGA's global playbook might finally be working.

• 
  

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Rep. Jasmine Crockett: Elon’s Still Lurking—and So Is Trump’s Data Grab

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwANY5-rRyY

 Jun 5, 2025

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett isn’t letting Elon Musk off the hook—and she’s sounding the alarm on what the Trump administration is really doing with your data. From AI surveillance to Social Security snooping, Crockett calls out the GOP’s failure to provide real oversight and exposes the privacy nightmare brewing under Trump’s DOGE program. She’s asking the questions Republicans won’t—and warning that what starts with students and nonprofits might end with all of us.

 

Transcript

0:00

thank you so much Madam Chair um you

0:02

know it's interesting because um I don't

0:05

know what all has taken place thus far

0:07

in this hearing but I do recall when I

0:10

left we were talking about Elon and so I

0:13

want to make sure uh that we don't

0:15

forget him i know that some people want

0:17

us to forget Elon and act like he never

0:19

existed but we're not going to do that

0:22

um we are talking about AI today and I

0:26

can tell you what real people in my

0:29

district care about i had a few town

0:32

halls and I talked to some seniors and

0:34

they were concerned about their data and

0:36

their information and how it was being

0:37

used and they wanted me to answer

0:40

questions that I just didn't have the

0:41

answers to about what has Elon done with

0:44

their tax information their social

0:46

security information their health

0:47

information banking information

0:49

information about their credit histories

0:51

and instead of demanding answers

0:53

Republicans just blocked our motion to

0:55

subpoena him to testify before this

0:56

committee and I'd ask at this point for

0:59

unanimous consent to enter into the

1:01

record um a picture of who all was in

1:03

the room when we took the vote madam

1:06

Chair no objection um as well as since

1:10

our clerk was ready and she knew who was

1:12

in the room uh the actual record of who

1:16

was in the room at that time no

1:18

objection thank you so much

1:22

five months into the 119th Congress and

1:25

no one from the administration or Doge

1:29

has appeared before this committee to

1:30

explain why they're invading the privacy

1:32

of Americans and the irony of it all is

1:35

during a 2023 hearing i remember

1:37

Chairman Comr stating that quote "We've

1:40

witnessed big tech autocrats will their

1:42

unchecked power to promote their

1:44

preferred political opinions and now he

1:47

and committee Republicans are here

1:49

helping the world's richest man to do

1:51

just that they're letting him spy on

1:53

companies competing for government

1:54

grants but worse they're letting him spy

1:57

on you the American people look we can

1:59

all agree that incorporating emerging

2:01

technologies like artificial

2:02

intelligence into government operations

2:04

can be effective however these

2:06

technologies shouldn't be used to

2:08

weaponize the government against the

2:09

public so I'm going to ask Mr schneider

2:12

really quickly is it true that when it

2:15

comes to any technologies AI or

2:17

otherwise that they can be a

2:19

double-edged sword

2:21

i think of technology as power and the

2:24

more the technology enhances your power

2:27

and whether your power is for good or

2:29

for bad depends on you depends on how

2:32

you're perceived so yes I mean techn

2:34

technology has affordances and we know

2:36

that modern technologies have kind of

2:38

built for surveillance make surveillance

2:40

easy i mean this is the most complex

2:43

effective surveillance device we've ever

2:44

invented and we all willingly put it in

2:46

our pockets every morning so so yes

2:49

technologies can be used for both good

2:50

and evil but think of of the people

2:52

behind it as as the wielders yes I I

2:56

absolutely agree and I appreciate your

2:58

answer that's my concern my concern is

3:01

that these technologies will be used to

3:04

weaponize the government against the

3:06

public because everything that we have

3:08

seen out of this particular

3:09

administration has been nothing short

3:11

but weaponization so let's talk about

3:13

some of the things that this

3:14

administration is doing they've

3:15

announced they're going to use AI to

3:17

scam the social media accounts of

3:19

students who disagree with their

3:20

policies they've threatened nonprofits

3:23

and universities that are tax they're

3:26

threatening their tax exempt status

3:28

they've threatened journalists for

3:29

reporting stories that are critical of

3:31

the president they are literally in

3:33

court arguing to end birthright

3:35

citizenship and a lot of y'all think

3:38

only immigrants are going to be affected

3:40

by this but this administration has

3:42

already deported American citizens in

3:45

fact in an interview with Time magazine

3:47

Trump said quote "I would love to do

3:49

that we're looking into it." Um Madam

3:53

Chair I'd ask unanimous consent to enter

3:54

into the record um an article published

3:57

by ABC News titled quote "Trump wants to

4:00

send US citizens to foreign prisons."

4:02

Legal experts no objection thank you it

4:06

won't be long before more Americans are

4:08

targets of this administration this

4:09

administration has refused to follow the

4:11

law and the Republicans are failing to

4:13

do actual oversight we don't know what

4:15

they're going to do with their health

4:17

records and social security information

4:18

in fact we don't know what they're doing

4:20

i don't I don't think anybody does

4:22

except we know that they're breaking the

4:23

law and it is frustrating to me because

4:26

I am somebody that actually believes in

4:28

science i believe that we should be

4:30

investing in our young people i believe

4:32

that we should not be taking research

4:34

dollars away i believe that we should be

4:36

trying to come up with new technologies

4:38

and that we should be leading the world

4:40

but unfortunately I can't trust these

4:42

guys to do good things because as it's

4:44

already been said by Mr schneider it is

4:47

about who it is that is on the side that

4:50

is asking for this to be done and

4:52

frankly this feels like some bad

4:55

um movie that we are all in and that the

4:59

villains are doing bad so uh with that I

5:02

will yield

Rep. Jasmine Crockett: “Musk May Be Gone, But His Stench Lingers”

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQbjgBi4p94

 Jun 3, 2025

Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett joined MSNBC’s The Weekend and sounds off on Elon Musk’s chaotic exit from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). While Musk might’ve left the building, Crockett makes clear the damage is done—gutting federal agencies, slashing jobs, and peddling fake savings. She calls out the sham cuts, the lack of oversight, and the GOP’s obsession with gimmicks over governance. And she’s not letting anyone forget who’s paying the price: working families, seniors, and public servants. The DOGE experiment? A disaster. And Rep. Crockett’s ready to clean house.

 

Transcript

0:00

musk is not completely going away

0:04

Elon has worked tirelessly helping lead

0:06

the most sweeping and consequential

0:08

government reform program in generations

0:11

I expect to remain a friend and uh an

0:14

adviser and uh certainly if there's

0:17

anything the president wants me to do

0:18

I'm at at the president's office

0:21

Doge cuts have certainly been sweeping

0:24

According to a New York Times analysis

0:26

Doge has cut 99% of personnel at

0:30

Broadcaster Voice of America and USAD as

0:33

well as nearly half the workforce at the

0:35

Department of Education and nearly a

0:37

quarter of employees at HHS As for the

0:41

$2 trillion in savings Musk Musk

0:44

promised last fall it's just 175 billion

0:48

as of this week according to Doge's

0:51

website Although the website has a

0:54

history of dubious information For it

0:56

claimed $8 billion in savings from a

0:59

contract that was actually just $8

1:01

million and posted quote unquote

1:04

receipts that save no money And there's

1:07

no real evidence of the fraud Musk has

1:10

pledged to find The so-called fraud Doge

1:13

touted was either previously uncovered

1:16

or wildly overblown

1:20

Joining us now is the Congresswoman from

1:22

Texas Jasmine Crockett who serves on the

1:25

House Doge subcommittee Congresswoman

1:28

welcome to the weekend So just your

1:32

thoughts on Elon Musk and his departure

1:35

from Washington

1:39

Hallelujah is what I got to say Is it

1:42

Sunday let us all give thanks to the

1:44

good Lord above Listen let me tell you

1:46

something He is gone but the musk is

1:49

still going to linger in the air We know

1:52

as you went through in your intro that

1:55

there are so many people that have been

1:56

impacted by these ridiculous and

1:59

notthought out cuts And it's not just

2:02

the federal workers It's those

2:04

constituents of ours our citizens that

2:07

are being impacted the hardest by these

2:10

cuts And so here it is You basically let

2:12

this guy run wild And honestly I feel

2:16

like all of the cuts to federal

2:19

employees that was nothing more than a

2:21

distraction for the things that he

2:23

really wanted to do which is to make

2:24

sure that there was no oversight over

2:27

his companies the companies that were

2:29

under investigation This was to kind of

2:32

keep us busy and distracted And

2:34

unfortunately in the process we have

2:36

harmed our federal government and

2:38

ultimately we are harming our overall

2:40

economy

2:42

Yeah Congresswoman like you said the

2:44

damage has already been done The people

2:46

have been fired The ch a lot of those

2:48

changes have been made Is there any

2:50

reason for folks to anticipate that at

2:53

some point the you guys will the

2:55

Congress or someone will be able to claw

2:57

back some of these jobs and policies

2:59

that people really need around the

3:01

country

3:03

i mean would you really want to work for

3:04

the federal government at this moment i

3:06

mean like like let's be honest Um you

3:09

know in in reality we have been down as

3:12

it relates to some of our federal

3:14

workforce Anyway this is one reason that

3:16

the Biden Harris administration invested

3:18

so much money in the inflation reduction

3:20

act when it came to the IRS because they

3:22

wanted to make sure that those people

3:25

that were best trained to do those

3:26

complicated um audits of people's taxes

3:30

basically the very very rich making sure

3:32

that we had the best of the best to make

3:34

sure that we could bring in additional

3:36

income In addition to that while we've

3:38

been talking about the reconciliation

3:39

package and we've been talking about the

3:41

cuts and how many people are going to

3:43

potentially lose their health care or

3:45

how many people are going to lose food

3:47

off of their tables one of the things

3:49

that we've not been able to do because

3:51

there's again still so much in this

3:53

terrible bill is talk about things that

3:55

happened in the oversight committee such

3:57

as deciding that they don't want federal

3:59

government employees to have the

4:01

protections the protections that the

4:02

federal court um has acknowledged and

4:05

said "Hey you've got to reinstate these

4:07

federal employees Instead they want to

4:09

change federal employees to at will So a

4:11

lot of the things that once attracted

4:13

people to want to come and work for the

4:15

federal government they are disappearing

4:17

as well as well as making them pay more

4:20

into um their furs So it's it's

4:23

absolutely insane and nobody wants to

4:25

come work for us right now Congresswoman

4:27

yesterday in the Oval Office it didn't

4:30

exactly sound like Trump and Elon Musk

4:32

were completely breaking up He sounded

4:35

like he might still be lingering in some

4:37

unofficial capacity Yet you know he had

4:41

to end his special He was at the final

4:43

day as a special employee How is the

4:46

House Oversight Committee going to keep

4:48

holding Doge and Elon Musk accountable

4:53

you said keep We never started Um Doge

4:58

was just a little pet project for um

5:02

Marjorie Taylor Green to be able to say

5:04

"Hey they gave me something I've got a

5:06

gavvel." And so you know the last Doge

5:09

hearing that we had it was on uh trans

5:13

folk doing fencing Um I mean we were

5:16

talking to people that don't get any

5:17

federal dollars whatsoever Um and

5:19

dealing with that We have a Doge

5:21

subcommittee hearing coming up and it's

5:23

to talk about NOS's and basically to go

5:26

after them We have had a hearing on PBS

5:29

and talk about why it's important to

5:31

quote unquote defund PBS I mean we've

5:34

not dealt with those things We have

5:35

tried to subpoena Elon Musk before The

5:38

Republicans did not want to do that I

5:40

don't know why you wouldn't want to have

5:42

your main man come in and tell us about

5:44

all the great work that he's doing

5:45

unless he absolutely isn't doing any

5:48

great work So listen I think that

5:50

unfortunately we're going to have to

5:52

wait until the Democrats are in the

5:53

majority which will hopefully be in the

5:55

midterms and then we can absolutely

5:58

bring Elon Musk in and we can have him

6:00

under oath and we can have him tell us

6:03

about everything that he did because as

6:05

I've been home this week to hear from my

6:07

seniors that are concerned and don't

6:09

have answers about how much information

6:12

he had access to and what he did with

6:14

that sensitive information they are

6:16

scared

6:18

Um Congresswoman have a listen to what

6:21

Elon Musk had to say in an interview on

6:24

Tuesday about his thoughts on the

6:27

so-called big beautiful bill that was

6:30

passed by the House

6:33

I was like disappointed to see the

6:36

massive spending bill frankly uh which

6:40

increases the budget deficit not does

6:42

decrease it and undermines the work that

6:44

the Doge team is doing I think a bill

6:45

can be can be can be big or it could be

6:48

beautiful

6:49

I don't know if it could be both

6:52

[Music]

6:53

Congresswoman I have no question Just

6:56

hold forth

7:01

Listen I mean you know you know I'm not

7:04

necessarily besties with Elon Uh but

7:07

when I can agree I'm just going to agree

7:09

because it's just the truth The reality

7:11

is that we saw when this bill passed the

7:13

House which it barely made it over the

7:15

finish line 215 to 214 We know that

7:18

there were two Republicans that somehow

7:20

went MIA We know that two Republicans

7:22

voted with us And then we know that one

7:24

Republican just voted present And let me

7:26

just tell you even if a Republican voted

7:29

with us it wasn't for the same reasons

7:31

okay but we got to the same result which

7:33

is that this is a big bad bill Okay and

7:36

their reasons for saying you know what

7:38

we're not going to vote for this is

7:40

because they still want to raise the

7:41

debt ceiling by five trillion dollars

7:43

And so what I have explained to people

7:45

is that the cuts that they want to give

7:47

to the rich folk in this country are so

7:49

deep that even after cutting almost 14

7:52

million people off their healthcare and

7:54

cutting over $30 billion out of SNAP

7:58

benefits as well as all the other ugly

8:00

stuff And we don't talk about the fact

8:02

that they want to have this big chunk of

8:04

money so that ICE agents can get

8:06

approximately

8:08

$42,000 a piece in a bonus So we had

8:12

money that was going up for crazy stuff

8:14

And then we also of course had to set

8:16

aside enough money so that somebody

8:18

could go golfing I believe that the

8:19

number may be a billion dollars or so um

8:22

over the four years for him to be able

8:24

to go golfing This doesn't really make

8:26

sense and frankly nobody has asked for

8:28

these things to be their priorities But

8:31

there are fiscal responsible Republicans

8:34

that are saying "Listen I don't think

8:36

they really care about the cuts but they

8:38

absolutely care about the fact that we

8:40

still are needing to lift the debt

8:41

ceiling and honestly have nothing to

8:43

show for it." One might say that you

8:45

would call this um a bad built bad built

8:48

Butch bill Go on Elise