It is not ironic that after the Donald Trump landslide victory in the US election that Greece’s right wing parties began calling on Kyriakos Mitsotakis to “Make New Democracy Right Wing Again.”
Paraphrasing the Make America Great Again (MAGA) slogan Trump supporters love, the parties sitting on the right side of the Greek Parliament grabbed the opportunity to send a message to the Prime Minister, namely to stop making concessions to the Left and return the governing party to its initial identity as a conservative, patriotic party that puts the Greek family first—or MGGA: Make Greece Great Again.
That was the first reaction of the Greek conservative parties after the US election results were finalized. It was time to have their say after weeks of bombardment by media telling Greeks that it’s impossible for Americans to vote for a man who is “a danger to democracy.”
The word democracy is used a lot, but the context is not always the correct one. Can a man who is elected with all democratic procedures be a danger to democracy? Or, to put it bluntly, will Donald Trump act as a dictator starting in January 2025? Considering that he had the chance to do so in his first term, if he is so inclined, it is not likely since he did nothing of the sort the first time around.
But why was Greek media so unfriendly to Donald Trump? Why were several newspapers and TV channels so politely hostile to a man who contended to become the president of a country thousands of miles away from Greece, a man who have done nothing anti-Greek when he was president? More importantly, did they refuse to accept the will of the American voters to choose the person who would lead their country?
The elitist approach of the Greek press
To a large degree, the Greek press had condemned Donald Trump from the moment his candidacy was secured. Trump was often ridiculed by Greek journalists, especially those who support the ruling New Democracy party, quite often.
The elitist approach of a great percentage of the US press towards Trump was adopted by the Greek media as well. While American movie stars, musicians, and intellectuals endorsed his Democrat opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Greek showbiz followed suit in an exhibition of progressive, open-minded thinking and liberal attitude. After all, the majority of American celebrities were on Harris’ side some media argued.
Yet, they were proven wrong, just like their US counterparts were. The real people, the vast majority of voters, are more concerned with putting food on the table and paying their mortgage than appearing liberal and open-minded by adopting the woke agenda and consuming themselves with gender multiplication.
This elitist approach is exemplified by a comment made by a well-known anchor woman on Greek television who pompously explained the results of the US presidential election by saying that “all the uneducated Americans voted for Trump.”
Those part of Greek media find it difficult to accept that working class and low income people, including Latinos and African Americans, have been swayed by a billionaire of dubious morals. They were shocked to see that this class of people chose Trump despite the fact that he had been condescending towards them.
It is characteristic of this elitism that after attacking Trump throughout the campaign and following the election results, they began attacking his voters and insulting them for their choices.
Another point where the Greek press failed to present an objective analysis of the pre-election atmosphere was an unfounded certainty presented by some media outlets that in case Kamala Harris won the election, Trump supporters would declare civil war.
Trump and the Greek government
In the European Union, there is a feeling that the Trump “America first” motto means Europe and the rest of the world will be of secondary concern to the new President. For the time being, Europe is puzzled whether the US under the new Trump administration will abandon Europe.
Based on that assumption, some media outlets claimed that the Mitsotakis administration was secretly supporting Kamala Harris in fear of retaliation for Greece’s military aid to Ukraine.
The Greek government follows the EU line: a lax approach towards illegal migration, a partial adaption of the woke agenda, and military support to Ukraine. Most probably, this will not be a concern for the new US president-elect.
The war in Ukraine is a concern for Europe, however, now that the US is changing leadership. Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are on good terms. One of the promises Trump made to the American people is that he would put an end to the war, most likely to Russia’s benefit. But that does not mean that Trump would impose any kind of sanctions on Europe because it went against his supposed buddy in the Kremlin. After all, Europe is a vast market for US trade, and Trump is a good businessman.
Ιn January 2020, when Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the White House, Trump had called him “an excellent prime minister.” Relations between the two countries were excellent as well during Trump’s first term, and it doesn’t seem very likely that this will change.
Speaking of Greek-American relations under Trump, Greek Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis noted that during his presidency, the US blocked the F35 sale to Turkey. Moreover, during Trump’s first term, he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis agreed to further develop the Alexandroupolis military base into a hub of US interests in the region.