Americans are accustomed to setting an example for the rest of the world to follow. The Declaration of Independence and Constitution have provided the blueprint for countless flattering imitations. But… well, you don’t need me to tell you what’s going on in the White House—Americans would benefit from learning from others about how to fight for their democracy, and, most importantly, how to win.
Romania might not be the first place someone from the US would look to for a lesson in democracy. But it’s actually the latest open society to score a victory for liberalism and freedom. Just yesterday, Nicușor Dan was sworn in as the Eastern European nation’s president after a tight battle against George Simion, a Eurosceptic and ultranationalist populist. Simion trafficked in revanchist fantasies, hatred of ethnic minorities, anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, and a deep admiration of Donald Trump. Standard fare for the European far-right.
But Dan, the independent mayor of Bucharest, didn’t just wage an effective campaign against his firebrand opponent Simion. He also challenged the traditional political establishment represented by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and National Liberal Party (PNL).
Back in 2020, Dan cut his teeth running against—and beating—the PSD incumbent mayor of the capital city. He went on to make a name for himself as an anti-corruption crusader operating in the belly of the Romanian political beast. This approach would pay dividends when Dan was able to rally both committed liberals and anti-establishment skeptics.
The PSD-PNL coalition didn’t represent a threat to Romania’s democratic trajectory in the way that Simion did, but their sterile brand made him a viable threat. Romanians have spent 25 of the 35 years since the fall of communism under presidents from the PSD, PNL, or one of their antecedents. Public opinion polls show that Romanians are generally pro-European, but they are also fed up with the old guard.
Simion gained even more momentum after the Romanian Constitutional Court annulled last December’s first round presidential election results, in which another far-right contender, Călin Georgescu, came out ahead with a major assist from the Kremlin. The court made the right call given evidence that Georgescu’s campaign benefited from widespread Russian interference. But there was no avoiding how the move would play with many skeptical Romanian voters.
I recently returned from visiting Romania to an America where Democrats and their allies are at each other’s throats over how to move forward from last year’s electoral defeat. Take a look at the Democratic gubernatorial primary in California. In that race, cabinet officials from the last administration like former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Vice President Kamala Harris, are being criticized for their part in the coverup of President Biden’s decline. This mirrors the impassioned back-and-forth in the comments under my two columns last week on this very topic. The primary in the Golden State could end up being a preview for a broader referendum on the powers that be within the Democratic Party.
The lesson from Romania for pro-democracy forces here in the United States is that anyone who wants a shot at taking down Trump and his accomplices can’t be afraid to break with an unpopular status quo ante. As with Donald Trump in America, it’s not that Romania’s authoritarian candidate was especially beloved so much as his typical opposition was broadly disliked. That’s why an outsider was essential in order to defeat Simion and his toxic platform.
Americans have a long democratic tradition. But for a country like Romania, the fight—and by this I mean a real, violent fight—for democracy is just in the rearview mirror. Nicușor Dan himself was twenty years old in 1989 when dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu unleashed his murderous security services on civilians. That set off a brief but bloody struggle ending with the communist strongman and his wife’s entrails splattered against the wall of an army barracks.
For many, these are their formative political memories. That means freedom is a grave responsibility for Romanian voters. The alternative is not theoretical. We should respect the seriousness with which they treat their democratic duty. In the aftermath of Nicușor Dan’s victory, Americans—and free people everywhere—ought to take a page out of the Romanian playbook and recognize that pro-democracy and anti-establishment can go hand-in-hand.
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