Romania dodged a bullet

But democracies around the world are still endangered by enemies from within, and liberals need to get their act together and recognize mistakes

By Mihai Razvan Ungureanu and Dan Perry

Romanians came dangerously close to voting away their post-communist successes. In choosing Nicușor Dan over George Simion in its presidential election, Romania may have decided not to burn down the house, but only barely. That nearly half of Romanians supported a populist demagogue who questions Romania's commitments to the European Union and NATO is a major crack in Europe's democratic wall.

The irony is suffocating: While the Romanian people ultimately made the right choice, the leadership of the United States—the very country that built and led the postwar liberal world order—was quietly rooting for the other side. From Hungary's Viktor Orbán to Vladimir Putin to the autocratic rulers of petrostates in the Gulf, President Donald Trump's affections clearly lie with strongmen and ideologues, not democrats or transatlantic institutions. It is hard to overstate what a reversal this is for America—the one-time anchor of the free world.

There have been warning signs for years: Orbán's consolidation of power in Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan's suffocation of Turkish democracy, and the recurring popularity of Putin in Russia. In Western Europe, the far-right continues to surge—from AfD in Germany to the National Rally in France to Reform UK riding the anger left behind by Brexit. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Democrats—despite facing a convicted felon in Trump—just lost both houses of Congress and the presidential popular vote for the first time in two decades. That alone should alarm anyone who cares about truth, norms, or basic democratic values.

The defenders of liberal democracy seem lost.