CNN
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Romania, a country on Europe’s eastern fringe, is perhaps a surprising focus of attention for a new US administration whose foreign policy priorities include ending the war in Ukraine, reshaping the Middle East and expanding American territory.

Accustomed to flying under the radar, many in the country have been stunned by the Trump administration’s interest in its politics, which rarely garners international attention.

“It’s been unprecedented,” said Oana Popescu-Zamfir, director of the GlobalFocus Center, a think-tank in the capital, Bucharest. She said she cannot recall a time in Romania’s post-Soviet history that its affairs have been so closely scrutinized from afar.

The attention has centered on Calin Georgescu, a Kremlin-friendly ultranationalist candidate in Romania’s abruptly aborted presidential election last year, and Andrew Tate, a “manosphere” celebrity charged with rape and human trafficking by Romanian authorities, allegations that he denies.

The two men have little in common, but their claims to have both been subjected to a “witch hunt” by corrupt liberal institutions – à la President Donald Trump – have helped turn them into cause célèbres in conservative American circles and made an enemy of the Romanian state.

In Georgescu, the online right sees a politician with unorthodox views being denied an election victory on flimsy claims of “foreign interference.” In Tate, it sees an influential man facing trumped-up charges to cut him down. And in Romania, it sees the grossest case of what JD Vance called Europe’s “threat from within.”

The two men have amplified the US vice president’s claim. Since Romania lifted travel restrictions on Tate – reportedly following US pressure – the self-proclaimed misogynist influencer has stressed that the charges against him were fake, comparing his legal troubles to those of Trump.

“Remember what they did to Trump. Remember his accusations. Remember calling him a convicted felon… he was innocent,” Tate said in a video recorded from a sunlounge in Florida. “The greatest men in history have suffered this law fare [sic] and slander,” he said in a post, listing Trump alongside Nelson Mandela and Malcolm X.

Georgescu, who was virtually unknown before Romania’s election, has also compared claims made about his election campaign to those about Trump.

The 62-year-old former soil scientist – who opposes sending aid to Ukraine, calls Russian President Vladimir Putin a “patriot” and has voiced sympathy with Romania’s fascist leadership during World War II – unexpectedly won the first-round vote in November. But the constitutional court annulled the election after declassified intelligence reports uncovered possible Russian interference in Georgescu’s TikTok-fueled campaign, which Moscow denied.

After prosecutors charged him with establishing a fascist group and other crimes, which he denies, the electoral bureau banned Georgescu from standing in May’s re-run, outraging American conservatives and causing violent protests in Bucharest.

“It has nothing to do with [Russia],” Georgescu told Fox News last week. “It’s just a copy-paste of the accusations made against Donald Trump.”

While Tate has long championed Trump, Georgescu is a newer convert. As recently as last summer, Georgescu publicly disparaged the US president and spread conspiracy theories about Vance.

But Georgescu soon sensed an opportunity to “ride the Trump wave,” said Corneliu Bjola, professor of digital diplomacy at the University of Oxford.

“[Georgescu] drew inspiration from a style of political discourse that seems to operate without rules – marked by conspiratorial thinking, disinformation and personal attacks against opponents,” Bjola told CNN.

“Trump’s apparent legal immunity, despite his association with the January 6 insurrection and numerous political and personal scandals, further inspires [him and] reinforces a ‘victimhood narrative,’” he added.

But while courting the Trump administration has seemed to benefit both men, it is less clear why some of Trump’s deputies have tried to propel Georgescu to power and, reportedly, used diplomatic capital to free Tate and his brother, Tristan.

Last month, the Financial Times reported, citing sources, that Trump’s special envoy Richard Grenell had pressed Romania’s foreign minister to ease restrictions on the Tate brothers during talks at the Munich Security Conference. Romania’s foreign ministry told CNN there was “no pressure, no solicitations” in the talks. Grenell has also denied pressuring Romanian officials.

Less than two weeks after the conference, Romanian authorities lifted a travel ban on the Tates. The pair had been charged with forming a criminal gang and human trafficking, and Andrew has been charged with rape. In another probe, both are under investigation for money laundering. They have denied wrongdoing.

“Why would you release these people? They are accused of horrible things,” Bjola asked, saying it was a “bad look” for both countries. “The US used to defend Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Lech Walesa, these types of people – and all of a sudden it’s defending alleged sexual predators.”

When asked about the Tates’ return to the US, Trump said he knew “nothing” about it.

Others have said they were not surprised by the Trump administration’s reported efforts to free the Tates.

“Trump and MAGA are a very transactional group. If you do something to help them, they’ll do something to help you,” said Jamie Tahsin, a documentary maker who has reported on Tate for years.

“It’s red meat to the base,” Tahsin told CNN. “They can say, ‘Look, here’s another example of where the mainstream media, the legal system and governments have weaponized the law against an individual because they don’t like the things he says – just like what happened with Trump.”

The Tates are expected to return to Romania for their next court appearance later this month, but some doubt whether they will do so voluntarily, or whether Washington will force them to.

“There’s this general understanding in America right now that if you’re on Trump’s side… you will be OK, regardless of what you’ve done,” Tahsin said.

Standoff with Brussels

Georgescu has also proved valuable to the Trump administration, analysts say. In his blistering Munich speech, Vance singled out Romania as an instance of democratic backsliding in Europe.

“If your democracy can be destroyed by a few hundred thousand dollars of digital advertising from a foreign country, then it wasn’t very strong to begin with,” Vance said, pillorying Romania’s decision to annul its election.

Marietje Schaake, a fellow at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, told CNN the American right had turned Georgescu into a “symbol of what’s wrong with European democracy” that “fits into their broader agenda of weakening the European Union.”

Having shown little interest in the bloc in his first term, Trump has claimed the EU was created solely to “screw the US” and threatened the bloc with huge tariffs.

The Euroskeptic Georgescu has been lionized by American conservatives who share Trump’s ire towards Brussels. While interviewing Georgescu on a podcast, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones said the election annulment was “one of the most naked coups I’ve seen in the last 100 years – and I study history.”

Mario Nawfal, another “manosphere” influencer who interviewed Georgescu, said the authorities’ attempts to stop him running was “the EXACT playbook they tried against Trump.”

As well as undermining trust in elections, Popescu-Zamfir said Georgescu helps the Trump administration because “the more the world looks like it’s ideologically aligned with their beliefs and practices, the more (Trump) gets reconfirmed back home.”

The intense online scrutiny and chaos after postponing its election has left Romania reeling. Many are outraged that Georgescu cannot run in May, while others are dismayed that the Tates might not face justice.

The experience of being caught in the crosshairs of the online US right has led to a strange irony, Popescu-Zamfir said.

Since the collapse of Communism in 1989, Romania has often needed steering from Washington to stay its Euro-Atlantic course. “But now, this is the first time in 35 years, since the regime change, that the Romanian state… decided to keep to the pro-European, pro-democratic path, not because of external pressure, but despite it,” she said.

While the country’s institutions may have weathered the storm for now, Bjola, the Oxford professor, said Romanian politicians have yet to explain satisfactorily why Georgescu has been banned from running, which could provide fertile ground for conspiracies.

“[Their silence] has tremendous cost in a digital age, because if you don’t speak about what happened, this vacuum is going to be filled by Russian and domestic actors who have a different agenda,” he said.