President Donald Trump's populism is winning over voters and now Europe needs to curb its "generous and compassionate approaches" or else "it will continue to roil the body politic," former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told The Guardian.
"I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame," she told The Guardian.
"I admire the very generous and compassionate approaches that were taken particularly by leaders like [Germany Chancellor] Angela Merkel, but I think it is fair to say Europe has done its part, and must send a very clear message – 'we are not going to be able to continue provide refuge and support' – because if we don't deal with the migration issue, it will continue to roil the body politic."
A million migrants and refugees arrived in the EU in 2015, while tabled initiatives on asylum policy have helped those numbers decline in recent years, according to the report.
"You've got to deal with the legitimate grievances and answer them, which is why today in Europe you cannot possibly stand for election unless you've got a strong position on immigration because people are worried about it," former British Prime Minister Tony Blair told The Guardian.
"You've got to answer those problems. If you don't answer them then . . . you leave a large space into which the populists can march."
Clinton admitted President Trump has weaponized the issue to polarize right-wing populism.
"The use of immigrants as a political device and as a symbol of government gone wrong, of attacks on one's heritage, one's identity, one's national unity has been very much exploited by the current administration here," Clinton told The Guardian. "There are solutions to migration that do not require clamping down on the press, on your political opponents, and trying to suborn the judiciary, or seeking financial and political help from Russia to support your political parties and movements."
Blair added new-age global populism on the right will thrive until the opposition takes its own stand.
"I don't think it's reached its peak," Blair told The Guardian. "I think it will peak, in my view, when the centre ground recovers its mojo and has a strong forward agenda.
"A significant part of the problem here is people's desire for a leader that is going to just push through change without regard to political pressures, you know, that 'getting things done' mentality."
Clinton claimed people "want to be told what to do and where to go and how to live" and that leadership needs to come from the opposition to the U.S. president, instead of fueling him.
"The whole American system was designed so that you would eliminate the threat from a strong, authoritarian king or other leader and maybe people are just tired of it," Clinton added. "They don't want that much responsibility and freedom. They want to be told what to do and where to go and how to live . . . and only given one version of reality.
"I don't know why at this moment that is so attractive to people, but it's a serious threat to our freedom and our democratic institutions, and it goes very deep and very far and we've got to do a better job of shining a light on it and trying to combat it."
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