MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news out of Romania, where far-right candidate George Simion—who modeled himself after Trump and the MAGA movement—suffered a shocking defeat to centrist candidate Nicușor Dan. Relief Band: Get up to 20% OFF plus FREE Shipping when you go to https://ReliefBand.com and use Promo Code: MEIDAS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What was the outcome of the Romanian presidential election?
Romania has spoken in their major presidential election. They have rejected the Trump and Putin backed far right wing candidate George Simeon. Instead, the pro-EU, pro-democracy centrist candidate who's currently the mayor of Bucharest, Nikusha Dan, is going to go on and win this election.
Chapter 2: How did the election reflect views on Trump and Putin?
95% of the vote has been counted and Nikusha Dan is taking a commanding lead with 54% of the vote to George Simeon's 45% of the vote. Romania has spoken. They want closer ties within the European Union. They want democracy. They want to support Ukraine. This is a massive loss for Donald Trump. and MAGA, who supported George Simeon, who modeled himself as Romania's Trump, as Romania's MAGA.
This is a massive defeat for Vladimir Putin and for far right-wing autocracies across the world. Now, George Simeon modeled in the kleptocratic, despicable, vile model is not conceding. Instead, he's declaring victory despite losing. He has posted on social media in Trumpian fashion, I am the new president of Romania despite losing.
Now, this has also been amplified by RT, the Russian propaganda network as well. But let's be very clear. Nakusha Dan is going to go on and win this election. As I mentioned, the mayor of Bucharest, a centrist, a math Olympiad, has a PhD, a brilliant soft-spoken man who supports democracy. Now, if you looked at the odds of
few days ago george simeon had a 75 to 80 chance of winning after all he won the first round of romania's election back in early may then right before uh the elections were to take place we saw george simeon's odds of winning slide to about 54 two hours ago there was a complete reversal now
You may be used to seeing the polling look like this, although it looked a little bit not as all of a sudden fashion like this. But when we showed you how the far right-wing party in Canada lost after leading in the polls, same thing in Australia, their far right-wing party lost after leading in the polls. More repudiation of MAGA, more repudiation of...
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Chapter 3: What factors contributed to Nicușor Dan's victory?
anyone who doesn't support Ukraine and any in a major repudiation to sympathizers of Vladimir Putin. Let's take you to the scene of Bucharest right here, where the people are celebrating. Let's watch this. Let's play the clip. So what happened in this election to lead Nakusha Dan to go on to beat George Simeon? How did the centrists pull off this upset right now?
Chapter 4: Why is this election significant for pro-democracy movements?
Chapter 5: What does George Simion's response reveal about the election?
Now, this has also been amplified by RT, the Russian propaganda network as well. But let's be very clear. Nakusha Dan is going to go on and win this election. As I mentioned, the mayor of Bucharest, a centrist, a math Olympiad, has a PhD, a brilliant soft-spoken man who supports democracy. Now, if you looked at the odds of
few days ago george simeon had a 75 to 80 chance of winning after all he won the first round of romania's election back in early may then right before uh the elections were to take place we saw george simeon's odds of winning slide to about 54 two hours ago there was a complete reversal now
You may be used to seeing the polling look like this, although it looked a little bit not as all of a sudden fashion like this. But when we showed you how the far right-wing party in Canada lost after leading in the polls, same thing in Australia, their far right-wing party lost after leading in the polls. More repudiation of MAGA, more repudiation of...
anyone who doesn't support Ukraine and any in a major repudiation to sympathizers of Vladimir Putin. Let's take you to the scene of Bucharest right here, where the people are celebrating. Let's watch this. Let's play the clip. So what happened in this election to lead Nakusha Dan to go on to beat George Simeon? How did the centrists pull off this upset right now?
Well, there was a surge that we just saw today in Bucharest and other areas of young voters. They saw what happened in early May during the first round, where although Simeon didn't get a majority, Simeon still got the leading vote total. And I think the young people said, our future is going to be absolutely destroyed by this MAGA Putin candidate. Romania will be lost permanently. to Putin.
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Chapter 6: How did the youth vote influence the election results?
Chapter 7: What are the implications for Romania's relationship with the EU?
few days ago george simeon had a 75 to 80 chance of winning after all he won the first round of romania's election back in early may then right before uh the elections were to take place we saw george simeon's odds of winning slide to about 54 two hours ago there was a complete reversal now
You may be used to seeing the polling look like this, although it looked a little bit not as all of a sudden fashion like this. But when we showed you how the far right-wing party in Canada lost after leading in the polls, same thing in Australia, their far right-wing party lost after leading in the polls. More repudiation of MAGA, more repudiation of...
anyone who doesn't support Ukraine and any in a major repudiation to sympathizers of Vladimir Putin. Let's take you to the scene of Bucharest right here, where the people are celebrating. Let's watch this. Let's play the clip. So what happened in this election to lead Nakusha Dan to go on to beat George Simeon? How did the centrists pull off this upset right now?
Well, there was a surge that we just saw today in Bucharest and other areas of young voters. They saw what happened in early May during the first round, where although Simeon didn't get a majority, Simeon still got the leading vote total. And I think the young people said, our future is going to be absolutely destroyed by this MAGA Putin candidate. Romania will be lost permanently. to Putin.
So you saw this surge of young people voting. You saw this record turnout that nobody expected to see in Romania. And this led to the centrist pro-democracy, pro-EU candidate pulling off this important upset and an upset that was a further repudiation of Trump and Putin. Let me show you how France 24 was talking about this election just days ago.
Here's how they described George Simeon from the AUR, the MAGA Putin candidate, the far-right-wing extremist. Play this clip.
The far-right candidate openly emulates American President Donald Trump. Nationalist and critical of elites in the media, he says he wants to restore Romania's greatness. In Bucharest, he sought to reassure businessmen that even though he has never been in government, he is fit to lead. The AUR wants to remain in the European Union, but has proposed cutting off military aid to Ukraine.
We need to take care of our own interests and of our own citizens.
If the far right received 40% of the vote in the first round this month, it's also thanks to Kalin Georgescu. The anti-vaccine, pro-Russian candidate won the first round of elections in November before it was annulled. Now under investigation for campaign abuses, Georgescu must report to the police once a week.
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