Anti-Yahoo Serious

Donald Trump has caused a second conservative party in the Commonwealth to choke like they were coaching the Los Angeles Kings:

Donald Trump may not have been on Australia’s ballot paper, but his shadow loomed large all the same.

Over his three years as opposition leader, Peter Dutton, the hard-right prime ministerial candidate of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia, embraced MAGA-style politics and bigged up Trump. In February, for instance, Dutton called Trump a “big thinker” and lauded his “art of the deal” negotiation tactics after the American president called for the U.S. to take over Gaza and turn it into a Middle East Riviera.

Dutton’s campaign borrowed heavily from the U.S. Republican Party’s policies under Trump, with the Liberal leader arguing for significant cuts to the public service and championing a DOGE-inspired government efficiency unit. Dutton also unveiled (and then abandoned) a policy to force all public servants in the Australian capital Canberra back into the office full-time.

Dutton’s embrace of MAGA policies backfired spectacularly.

Albanese and the Labor Party successfully argued the work-from-home ban would limit women’s access to the workforce; that the cuts to the public service would lead to reduced services and DOGE-style chaos.

But it was the U.S. president’s increasing unpopularity in Australia that really hurt Dutton’s image.

Still only an N of 2 at this point, but it will be interesting to see if marginal voters looking at what Trump is doing to the US and saying “no thanks!” finally inhibits the international growth of the authoritarian right more broadly.

In related news:

ROFL Poilievre literally had to find a riding in Nickelback country in rural Alberta to be confident he wouldn't lose

[image or embed]— Scott Lemieux (@lemieuxlgm.bsky.social) May 2, 2025 at 10:12 PM

Well, the Tyrell Museum is pretty cool.