The four steps you need to know to become a nationalist leader

Whenever I hear a European nationalist leader speak, I get a headache

It doesn’t matter if it’s Støjberg in Denmark, Listhaug in Norway, Le Pen in France, Weidel in Germany or Abascal in Spain

At first, you try to be polite. You listen carefully for the logic in their proposals, the "why" behind their ideas. But eventually, your brain short-circuits because you realize there is nothing to understand. It’s not that they aren’t right, it’s that they aren’t even trying to be. They aren’t just politicians with different ideas, they are a franchise operating under the same formula in every country

Their system is as ridiculous as it is effective and it works in four steps:

Step one is to blurt out some epic piece of nonsense. It has to be something that breaks the consensus, the opposite of common sense. If they said something coherent, the machine wouldn't start, because coherence invites reflection and what they want is a firestorm

Then comes step two: sensible people, experts and journalists throw their hands up in the air and say that what was said is utter bullshit that makes no sense whatsoever. That is when they uncork the champagne because we have stepped into their game and we have already lost

In step three, they turn toward their audience and say: "Do you see how they insult me? Do you see how the elites treat me? They hate me because I defend you, because I’m the only one who dares to say what you’re thinking." At that moment they stop being leaders proposing solutions and become human shields, protecting the voter from a humiliation they manufactured themselves

The magic happens in step four: the person listening doesnt understand a word of what they are proposing (because there is nothing to understand) but they see the friction, they see the conflict, and they feel hate. And that hate is the final glue, it’s what makes them say that if they feel this rage, it must be true that everyone hates them and only this leader protects them

This theater works because the ground is fertile. People are truly angry because the future is narrowing and life feels like a senseless chaos. But we are trapped between two broken mirrors. On one side, our current leaders are all head and no heart. They speak in macrodata and %GDP while people are drowning in anxiety. They don’t know how to connect with the indignation, they just give a technical explanation for misery. They give you facts, but no purpose

On the other, the nationalists are all heart and no head. They are masters at smelling emotion, but they have no real project. They are agitators, not architects. They offer a narrow, dark cave to hide in, but no horizon. They give you someone to blame, but no reason to hope 

The only way out is a political regeneration that stops choosing between logic and emotion. We need a new debate that uses both the head and the heart. Only when we build a project that is as rational as it is empathetic will the circus finally pack up and move somewhere else