Why Trump’s MAGA playbook backfired in Romania

We’ve already listed the reasons behind George Simion’s defeat in the May 18 election, where he lost to Nicușor Dan despite seemingly holding all the cards. But one less-discussed aspect deserves a closer look: the failure to transplant MAGA ideology into Romania. Simion clearly benefited from consultants affiliated with former U.S. President Donald Trump—some openly, others behind the scenes. We all saw the interviews with Steve Bannon (former White House Chief Strategist and key MAGA ideologue) and the $1.5 million lobbying contract signed with an American firm. Others remained in the shadows but were present in Bucharest to support Simion.

The Romanian election offered a chance for the Trump camp to plant its first MAGA flag in Europe. After a string of failed ideological exports to Canada and Australia, this was an opportunity to show the world that the conservative movement was crossing the ocean and gaining global traction. The stakes were higher than they first appeared: the victory of a candidate who declared himself a fierce supporter of MAGA policies and who even launched the MEGA (Make Europe Great Again) movement in Brussels became a significant strategic interest for Washington. Romania could have become—though not this time—the first EU country governed by a hardcore Trumpist. Hungary doesn’t count, as Viktor Orbán (Hungary’s Prime Minister) considers himself the inspiration behind MAGA, not its follower.

For all these reasons, the Trump administration’s investment in George Simion was unmistakable. Romania’s suspension from the Visa Waiver Program just two days before the first election round was a strong indicator, for anyone still in doubt. But the support for Simion—and earlier, for Călin Georgescu (a Romanian far-right figure proposed by Simion’s party for Prime Minister)—was not limited to administrative or political gestures. Statements from figures like U.S. Senator JD Vance and Elon Musk, who harshly criticized the cancellation of last November’s first-round presidential vote, also contributed.

Simion closely mimicked the rhetoric and behavior of Donald Trump, most likely under the guidance of American consultants mentioned earlier. But they made a critical error: failing to adapt the American strategy to local realities.

For instance, Simion’s campaign promise to fire 500,000 public sector workers was a direct copy of Elon Musk’s efficiency push in the U.S. (commonly referenced under the „DOGE” mindset—Discipline, Ownership, Growth, Efficiency). Foreign Policy even drew this parallel in a dedicated analysis of the Romanian election. However, brutally applying this idea to Romania—a country dominated by public sector workers, not entrepreneurs like Trump’s America—backfired completely. This is a clear case of strategic misfit.

Simion’s absence from debates mirrored Trump’s boycott of traditional media. Like Călin Georgescu before him, Simion favored alternative platforms—TikTok, parallel communications—to highlight his struggle against the old establishment or, as some would call it, „the system.” While this approach worked for Georgescu and in the first round, Simion’s refusal to appear in televised debates was perceived by voters as arrogance, cowardice, and sparked national ridicule. Again, the ideological graft failed in Romania, where television still plays a more central role than in the U.S., and where limiting exposure to alternative media means losing the broader national audience.

Simion’s attacks on France—portrayed as a model of Western decadence, destroyed by migrants, where democracy and Christian values have been wiped out—may resonate in America, but not in Eastern Europe. Romanians, Bulgarians, and Hungarians are themselves migrants in Western countries. It’s absurd to demonize a nation that remains a magnet for your own people. Here again, American consultants misunderstood the cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe and failed to adapt electoral messaging to local context. In short, they had little understanding of how a complex country like Romania operates.

The friendly overtures between George Simion and Viktor Orbán—two historical rivals sharing theoretical sympathies for sovereignty, conservatism, tradition, church, and MAGA—should also be seen in this context. It’s quite possible that the call for collaboration, even with far-right extremists from Poland, came at the suggestion of American consultants, in a bid to present a broader Eastern European movement in support of MAGA. I am almost certain that was the plan.

But again, what worked across the ocean didn’t work here. Orbán’s support messages triggered a strong anti-Simion reaction, especially among Romania’s Hungarian minority. As previously explained, these community leaders felt deeply insulted by the blatant undermining of their authority and saw the push to back a deeply anti-Hungarian candidate as, at best, offensive.

The clearest alignment with Washington, however, came on foreign policy—particularly regarding Ukraine. If Trump—this time heavily aided by Vladimir Putin—had succeeded in installing George Simion as president, Ukraine’s chances of resisting Russian aggression would have drastically diminished. Simion declared his opposition to military aid for Ukraine and vowed to block such shipments from transiting Romanian territory—currently a crucial corridor for supplying Ukraine with ammunition. Had this route been closed, Ukraine’s resistance capability would have collapsed within months. That’s why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Nicușor Dan’s victory so enthusiastically. It wasn’t just Romania that dodged a bullet—Ukraine dodged a full-blown shell. The Americans would have forced a “peace” deal through Romania’s hand—a betrayal for which no one in Europe would have forgiven us, and whose cost we would have borne for generations.

Let’s briefly rewind to a statement by U.S. Senator JD Vance during the Munich Security Conference:

“If your democracy can be destroyed with a few hundred thousand dollars in digital ads, then it wasn’t a very strong democracy to begin with.”

Today, Romania can proudly report that its democracy could not be destroyed by the few million dollars openly spent on propaganda and lobbying by the extremist party, nor by several more million rubles funneled in from Russia. It managed to stay standing—resisting pressure from two global powers and internal subversion. Romania has shown America that it is indeed a democracy. International observers praised the flawless organization of the May 18 presidential election. Meanwhile, Trump’s America has shown that, so far at least, MAGA support for any candidate, politician, or party is nothing short of a “kiss of death.”