Romanian extremists seem to believe that the return of Donald Trump is bound to bring them more voters and legitimize a type of discourse marked by populism and false narratives. They also hope that Trump will help them get the power. It is a kind of oxymoronic reasoning that shows that, in fact, Romanian extremists do not even understand the meaning of the word they adopted to define themselves - "sovereignism".
Liviu Dragnea, the first sovereignist devoted to Donald Trump
The idea of associating oneself with Trump - or, rather, with his image - is not new in Romania. It all started with the former president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) Liviu Dragnea, who "invited himself" to Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, in January 2017, at the beginning of his first term. It was the period when PSD was trying to position itself electorally closer to the nationalist spectrum, in order to more effectively counter the new (at that time) parliamentary party of the "progressives", Save Romania Union (USR). Surprisingly, although at that time Dragnea was "just" the President of the Chamber of Deputies, he got to shake hands with the American president and, most likely, even exchange a few words. The former PSD leader then announced that he had "the honor of attending a friendly dinner with Donald Trump". During a "warm and open dialogue", Trump allegedly told Dragnea that "Romania is important to us!"
In fact, Dragnea's whole undertaking was by no means a confirmation from Trump of the importance he gave to the Romanian nationalist trend, but only a trivial political lobbying maneuver. What Liviu Dragnea actually did was pay a company specialized in such services, to participate in the said dinner, and because of that he was also the subject of a criminal investigation by the National Anticorruption Directorate , which however did not end in sending the former politician to court.
George Simion, the soccer ultra who’s been a fan of Donald Trump since infancy
Since his emergence in politics, George Simion, the president of the extremist group AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), has constantly used Donald Trump’s name and political statements. In February last year, George Simion spent three days in the USA, at a conference of the American conservatives, where one of the speakers was the current president-elect. Although he claimed he was there for talks with Trump, Simion appeared in a few-seconds post, but only by with Steve Bannon (whom he called Steven), his former campaign manager from 2016. Later, in June 2024, Bannon got a definitive fourth-month prison sentence for defying the committee in the House of Representatives that was investigating the US Capitol attack of January 6, 2021.
As in the case of Liviu Dragnea, the presence of the AUR leader in the same room with Donald Trump was for money, costing at least several thousand dollars, given that the AUR delegation got front-row seats in the conference room. Although Simion claimed that he had been invited to that conference , according to the CPAC website, access is not free, and the entrance ticket has a different price depending on the seat occupied, ranging from 95 (further back and without other benefits) to 30,000 dollars (front rows and access to various other events at the conference).
On November 6, just a few hours after the official announcement of Trump's victory in the US presidential elections, George Simion congratulated himself for the intuition to believe in the victory of the American "sovereignist", which would "bring stability and peace to many corners of the world", countering at the same time, "the ideological current that threatens traditional values and national sovereignty". Meanwhile, the peacemaker has announced that he wants to annex Greenland, gain exclusive control of the Panama Canal, and even turn Canada into the 51st American state. Trump's bellicose statements did not, however, prevent George Simion from asking his son and the billionaire Elon Musk for help to restore "the freedom of the Romanian people", after the CCR's decision to cancel the presidential election. In an embarrassing post on X , Simion labeled Trump Jr. and Musk, denouncing the assault of Soros' globalists on Romania.
Diana Sosoacă, the obtuse corner of the patriotic triangle with Trump and Putin
Similarly, celebrating the victory of Donald Trump, the president of SOS România posted on Facebook a video montage conveying the message that Donald Trump would put her on the list of candidates for the presidency of Romania, after the same Constitutional Court had banned her candidacy. Moreover, Şoşoacă also addressed an open letter to the US president-elect, voicing her patriotic trust in him, "to free us from the shackles of globalism and political correctness, from the wars started in recent years". Speaking (for the umpteenth time?!) in the name of the entire people, she also conveyed "the best feelings of admiration and respect from all Romanians". Later, the leader of SOS Romania also posted a photo collage showing her with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, promoting "peace in the world", but also a fake clip, in which Trump seems to be mocking the Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, and with the description reading that Diana Şoşoacă is “loved” by Trump and Putin - the leaders who love and respect their peoples."
In fact, it was not the first instance of Diana Şoşoacă feeding on the personality of the American president-elect; almost 4 years ago she fell into the trap set by a bunch of internauts who had faked a post by Donald Trump feeling sorry for the exclusion of the pro-Russian senator from AUR. The involuntary humor caused by the way in which Şoşoacă takes credit for achievements in international politics (such as the so-called "Bucharest peace" between Russia and Ukraine) has not faded to this day, with the senator participating, on behalf of Romania (!!), in the third inauguration of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, or claiming that Ursula von der Leyen contracted pneumonia by divine grace, with the help of the icons the senator waved through the European Parliament.
Călin Georgescu, ready to give up sovereignty, if Trump asks him to
It’s quite obvious that the Trump "phenomenon" could not be missed. by the Romanian sovereignist who loves "Russian wisdom", the former presidential candidate, Călin Georgescu. Far surpassing the zeal of George Simion and the pathos of Diana Şoşoacă, Georgescu announced, immediately after the cancellation of the presidential elections, that "due to the fact that the second round of the presidential elections did not take place, Romania will go to war with Russia, and a state of emergency will be declared in the US. Therefore, President Biden will remain in office, and Donald Trump, the president-elect, will no longer be appointed to office.” Practically, Trump's destiny was strictly dependent on the rise of Călin Georgescu to the position of president of Romania. Moreover, in the most non-sovereignist way and contrary to previous statements, Georgescu said that "when Trump comes as president, I will ask for a professional expertise on the accusations [regarding the ties with Russia] and if they are proven, my resignation is on the table." Loyalty to Trump's political vision was also proven in the appreciation of his increasingly prominent intention to annex Greenland, as a sovereignist decision - the same, probably, as Russia’s decisions to annex the territories of other states.
However, recently, Călin Georgescu has announced that he declined the invitation to participate in Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony , because he "does not kneel before anyone", specifying that he will visit the American president from the position of leader of Romania. Although it fits perfectly into his pattern of behavior, extremely fluid and devoid of any logic, the recent attitude contrasts strongly with previous statements, in which he would infer he was close to the future Trump administration. Moreover, according to Romania's ambassador to Washington, Călin Georgescu lied about it, as he was not on the list of invitees to the ceremony. It would not be Georgescu's first lie: he also lied that Robert F. Kennedy, the future American health secretary, was going to travel to Romania to support him , news that had to be denied at the highest diplomatic levels.
Victor Ponta is slowly climbing the sovereignist mountain too
In 2020, after Joe Biden's victory in the presidential elections, at the expense of the current president-elect Trump, Victor Ponta, freshly joining the opposition ranks, voiced his satisfaction with the outcome of the elections in the US. : "The situation in America had already reached an unbearable level, and probably four more years with Mr. Trump would have been very, very difficult for everyone. Joe Biden certainly knows much more about Romania than Donald Trump, that is obvious. Donald Trump, as there is no important golf course in Romania, unfortunately, he made no investments, he did not know much, and he was not concerned about Romania". Returning in the meantime to the PSD and making a sudden 180-degree sovereignist turn after last year's elections, the former prime minister felt the need to climb the patriotic Golgotha himself and, at the "invitation of an American friend", he paid Trump a visit, right at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Ponta returned to the country announcing that “Donald Trump will impose sovereignism in Europe, therefore in Romania as well", based on a logical reasoning that, for now, we fail to grasp.
Donald Trump and Romania, between propaganda and reality
If we leave aside the exaltations of the Romanian sovereignists and objectively analyze the Trump administration's relationship with Romania during the first term, we notice that, although in economic terms, Romanian-American relations did not go through major changes, from a military point of view Donald Trump really considered Romania important. He spoke several times, during meetings with Klaus Iohannis, about the American security guarantees provided to our country, agreeing to periodically finance the military bases in Deveselu and Kogălniceanu. Moreover, he agreed to permanently send American soldiers to these bases and, last but not least, Romania was, along with Poland, one of the first Eastern states where the United States agreed to send Patriot missiles and other sophisticated weapons. Basically, the decisions of the Trump administration back in 2017-2021 strengthened the American military presence in Romania, precisely the thing that the sovereignists today claim that will “put us at war” with Russia.
Currently, the biggest fears of Romanian society do not necessarily concern the direct relationship with the USA, which analysts claim will not change radically, but are mainly related to the "promise of peace" that Donald Trump made during his election campaign. Thus, the concerns of the Bucharest executive are about a potential reconfiguration of the influence of the great powers in the region, through a greater acceptance of Moscow's claims, compared to the present time. Depending on how the future American deal with the Kremlin will look, which could be unfavorable to Eastern Europe, we will also know on which trajectory Romania's destiny will fall, extremely linked to the proximity of Russia and its expansionist policy.
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