Thread by @DLeonhardt

The left has lost power in the U.S., Germany, Italy and Sweden. Canada and Australia may be next. And the far right is growing across the West. But there is one European country where the left has won re-election and marginalized the far right: Denmark. Why? 🧵

First, it's worth emphasizing just how progressive Denmark's center-left party -- the Social Democratic Party -- is:
* It's expanded abortion access, both earlier in pregnancy and for teens.
* It's passed among the world's most ambitious climate laws, on agriculture...

The Danish Social Democrats have also:
* Spent more on Ukraine aid, as a share of GDP, than any other country.
* Reoriented the retirement system to be more progressive and more favorable to lower-income workers.
* Cracked down on housing speculation by private equity.

The key difference between Denmark's center-left and the center-left in the U.S. and much of Europe is that Danish progressives listened to working-class voters on immigration -- and reduced immigration levels.

nytimes.com/2025/02/24/mag…

As Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told me, immigration is the #1 reason that the Danish left still governs even when the left is in retreat almost everywhere else.

Consider this: Around the world, there is not one clear example of a country that has accepted large numbers of newcomers in recent decades while marginalizing the far right and reducing inequality.

Immigration is now roiling politics in the U.S., Canada, Australia, South Africa and Europe. The left's recent strategy -- lecturing working-class voters and ignoring the burdens on their communities -- hasn't worked. Denmark points to an alternative. nytimes.com/2025/02/24/mag…