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The architects of the president's victory in 2024 are looking east to expand their populist influence...
US President Donald Trump sees himself as part of a broader global shift towards populism.
But as he approaches other strongmen like Russia's Vladimir Putin and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, the team that helped bring the MAGA movement to the White House has worked to expand the list of aspiring autocrats, especially in Albania.
Former Trump campaign strategist Chris LaCivita wants to repeat his 2024 success over Sali Berisha in Albania's parliamentary elections on May 11. Berisha, a former prime minister sanctioned by the Biden administration for corruption, is running to retake power from Prime Minister Edi Rama.
What do the commentators say?
LaCivita, a longtime Republican Party strategist and former chief operating officer for the Republican National Committee, has become a “surprisingly central figure” in the small Balkan country’s election scene, The Wall Street Journal said. He has organized “large rallies, helped design television ads” and “appeared at various public events” on Berisha’s behalf, becoming a “target for opponents and supporters alike.” Much of LaCivita’s campaign messaging “echoes Trump,” including blaming the ruling party for “rising prices and crime,” while focusing on inflation.
But LaCivita is not the only one exporting the MAGA brand to Albania. He is joined by "early Trump pollster" Tony Fabrizio and Paul Manafort, the president's 2016 campaign manager who was convicted in 2018 of "crimes that included secretly lobbying for the pro-Russian former president of Ukraine," the Associated Press reports.
Berisha's embrace of Trump's electoral team "makes clear" their value to candidates "trying to exploit populist sentiments and copy Trump's rise" in a country where perceived ties to the United States are seen as a "great asset."
To this end, Berisha and his Democratic Party of Albania have worked to present LaCivita's work as a "sign of support from Trump's side in American politics," even though this narrative "seems increasingly uncertain."
Rama is “George Soros’ puppet in Albania and in the world,” Berisha told Albania’s A2CNN network, repeating an anti-Semitic cliché often used among right-wing movements, including the MAGA movement. LaCivita’s “crystal clear message,” Berisha claimed, is that he and his party are “the US’s partner in Albania.”
"I'm exporting MAGA," LaCivita told The New York Times, adding, "let's make Albania great again!"
But campaign image aside, the Trump administration itself "has not signaled support for a preferred party in the parliamentary elections" and LaCivita has said that he "would not address the Trump administration on behalf of Berisha or his party."
The role of the MAGA team in Albania’s upcoming elections comes at a particularly tense time, as Prime Minister Rama pushes forward with plans to join the European Union, a body that Trump has repeatedly criticized and downplayed. Rama has made EU membership by 2030 a “key part of his campaign,” Politico writes, while “the growing rift between Brussels and Washington threatens to overshadow” Albania’s application process.
What comes next?
Despite his deep and ongoing ties to the Trump administration and its network of affiliated PACs and consultancies, LaCivita has no plans to "register as a foreign agent" for his work in Albania, The Wall Street Journal writes.
He also predicts he will be "limited" in taking on other foreign clients next year "due to his work for American politicians in the midterm elections."
But LaCivita's final withdrawal from MAGA's global export does not mean that Berisha would be left without access to Trump's inner circle. The Democratic Party of Albania led by Berisha recently secured the services of Continental Strategy, a Florida consulting firm that "employs a roster of lobbyists with ties to Trumpworld," writes Mother Jones.
This "heavy bill" has been covered by the Make Albania Great Again Foundation, recently registered at a suburban address in New Jersey. Berisha is "seeking the lifting of a 'persona non grata' designation" imposed for corruption by the Biden administration.
According to Continental Strategy's published lobbying forms, the group "has already been in contact with the State Department on behalf of Berisha's party." / Adapted Pamphlet/
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