Romania, a country on Europe\u2019s eastern fringe, is perhaps a surprising focus of attention for a new US administration whose foreign policy priorities include ending the war in Ukraine, reshaping the Middle East and expanding American territory. <\/p>\n
Accustomed to flying under the radar, many in the country have been stunned by the Trump administration\u2019s interest in its politics, which rarely garners international attention. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been unprecedented,\u201d said Oana Popescu-Zamfir, director of the GlobalFocus Center, a think-tank in the capital, Bucharest. She said she cannot recall a time in Romania\u2019s post-Soviet history that its affairs have been so closely scrutinized from afar. <\/p>\n
The attention has centered on Calin Georgescu, a Kremlin-friendly ultranationalist candidate in Romania\u2019s abruptly aborted presidential election last year, and Andrew Tate, a \u201cmanosphere\u201d celebrity charged with rape and human trafficking by Romanian authorities, allegations that he denies. <\/p>\n
The two men have little in common, but their claims to have both been subjected to a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d by corrupt liberal institutions \u2013 \u00e0 la President Donald Trump \u2013 have helped turn them into cause c\u00e9l\u00e8bres in conservative American circles and made an enemy of the Romanian state. <\/p>\n
In Georgescu, the online right sees a politician with unorthodox views being denied an election victory on flimsy claims of \u201cforeign interference.\u201d In Tate, it sees an influential man facing trumped-up charges to cut him down. And in Romania, it sees the grossest case of what JD Vance called Europe\u2019s \u201cthreat from within.\u201d <\/p>\n
The two men have amplified the US vice president\u2019s claim. Since Romania lifted travel restrictions on Tate \u2013 reportedly following US pressure \u2013 the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer has stressed that the charges against him were fake, comparing his legal troubles to those of Trump. <\/p>\n
\u201cRemember what they did to Trump. Remember his accusations. Remember calling him a convicted felon\u2026 he was innocent,\u201d Tate said in a video recorded from a sunlounge in Florida. \u201cThe greatest men in history have suffered this law fare [sic] and slander,\u201d he said in a post, listing Trump alongside Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X. <\/p>\n
Georgescu, who was virtually unknown before Romania\u2019s election, has also compared claims made about his election campaign to those about Trump. <\/p>\n
The 62-year-old former soil scientist \u2013 who opposes sending aid to Ukraine, calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a \u201cpatriot\u201d and has voiced sympathy with Romania\u2019s fascist leadership during World War II \u2013 unexpectedly won the first-round vote in November. But the constitutional court annulled the election after declassified intelligence reports uncovered possible Russian interference in Georgescu\u2019s TikTok-fueled campaign, which Moscow denied. <\/p>\n
After prosecutors charged him with establishing a fascist group and other crimes, which he denies, the electoral bureau banned Georgescu from standing in May\u2019s re-run, outraging American conservatives and causing violent protests in Bucharest. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt has nothing to do with [Russia],\u201d Georgescu told Fox News last week. \u201cIt\u2019s just a copy-paste of the accusations made against Donald Trump.\u201d <\/p>\n
While Tate has long championed Trump, Georgescu is a newer convert. As recently as last summer, Georgescu publicly disparaged the US president and spread conspiracy theories about Vance. <\/p>\n
But Georgescu soon sensed an opportunity to \u201cride the Trump wave,\u201d said Corneliu Bjola, professor of digital diplomacy at the University of Oxford. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump\u2019s apparent legal immunity, despite his association with the January 6 insurrection and numerous political and personal scandals, further inspires [him and] reinforces a \u2018victimhood narrative,\u2019\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
But while courting the Trump administration has seemed to benefit both men, it is less clear why some of Trump\u2019s deputies have tried to propel Georgescu to power and, reportedly, used diplomatic capital to free Tate and his brother, Tristan. <\/p>\n
Less than two weeks after the conference, Romanian authorities lifted a travel ban on the Tates. The pair had been charged with forming a criminal gang and human trafficking, and Andrew has been charged with rape. In another probe, both are under investigation for money laundering. They have denied wrongdoing. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy would you release these people? They are accused of horrible things,\u201d Bjola asked, saying it was a \u201cbad look\u201d for both countries. \u201cThe US used to defend Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Lech Walesa, these types of people \u2013 and all of a sudden it\u2019s defending alleged sexual predators.\u201d <\/p>\n
When asked about the Tates\u2019 return to the US, Trump said he knew \u201cnothing\u201d about it. <\/p>\n
Others have said they were not surprised by the Trump administration\u2019s reported efforts to free the Tates. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrump and MAGA are a very transactional group. If you do something to help them, they\u2019ll do something to help you,\u201d said Jamie Tahsin, a documentary maker who has reported on Tate for years. <\/p>\n
The Tates are expected to return to Romania for their next court appearance later this month, but some doubt whether they will do so voluntarily, or whether Washington will force them to. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s this general understanding in America right now that if you\u2019re on Trump\u2019s side\u2026 you will be OK, regardless of what you\u2019ve done,\u201d Tahsin said. <\/p>\n
Georgescu has also proved valuable to the Trump administration, analysts say. In his blistering Munich speech, Vance singled out Romania as an instance of democratic backsliding in Europe. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf your democracy can be destroyed by a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn\u2019t very strong to begin with,\u201d Vance said, pillorying Romania\u2019s decision to annul its election. <\/p>\n
Having shown little interest in the bloc in his first term, Trump has claimed the EU was created solely to \u201cscrew the US\u201d and threatened the bloc with huge tariffs. <\/p>\n
The Euroskeptic Georgescu has been lionized by American conservatives who share Trump\u2019s ire towards Brussels. While interviewing Georgescu on a podcast, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said the election annulment was \u201cone of the most naked coups I\u2019ve seen in the last 100 years \u2013 and I study history.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mario Nawfal, another \u201cmanosphere\u201d influencer who interviewed Georgescu, said the authorities\u2019 attempts to stop him running was \u201cthe EXACT playbook they tried against Trump.\u201d <\/p>\n
As well as undermining trust in elections, Popescu-Zamfir said Georgescu helps the Trump administration because \u201cthe more the world looks like it\u2019s ideologically aligned with their beliefs and practices, the more (Trump) gets reconfirmed back home.\u201d <\/p>\n
The intense online scrutiny and chaos after postponing its election has left Romania reeling. Many are outraged that Georgescu cannot run in May, while others are dismayed that the Tates might not face justice. <\/p>\n
The experience of being caught in the crosshairs of the online US right has led to a strange irony, Popescu-Zamfir said. <\/p>\n
Since the collapse of Communism in 1989, Romania has often needed steering from Washington to stay its Euro-Atlantic course. \u201cBut now, this is the first time in 35 years, since the regime change, that the Romanian state\u2026 decided to keep to the pro-European, pro-democratic path, not because of external pressure, but despite it,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
While the country\u2019s institutions may have weathered the storm for now, Bjola, the Oxford professor, said Romanian politicians have yet to explain satisfactorily why Georgescu has been banned from running, which could provide fertile ground for conspiracies. <\/p>\n
\u201c[Their silence] has tremendous cost in a digital age, because if you don\u2019t speak about what happened, this vacuum is going to be filled by Russian and domestic actors who have a different agenda,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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