Two American figures visited Portugal in the past month, but only one of them was welcomed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio kicked off his European tour by holding talks with the Portuguese government in the first week of October.

While Portugal’s government is nominally center-right, the ruling PSD party is far from sympathetic to the Trump administration, and the White House not only snubbed PSD at President Trump’s inauguration but also invited right-wing opposition leader André Ventura to DC instead.

The PSD government led by Luís Montenegro came to power in 2024 and did not hide its distaste for Donald Trump and MAGA. In 2025, the PSD’s minister of defense quoted Trump’s victory and bad relations with Europe as reasons for foregoing the purchase of new fighter jets from the US, and Portugal recognized an independent Palestine late last year. The PSD executive has also been politically very close to Ursula von der Leyen, having promoted her candidacy to European Commission President.

Typically, there was a demonstration against the US secretary of state’s visit by protesters brandishing Palestine flags and scarves, organized by the far left. PSD had nothing to do with it, but it is telling that it has chosen to associate with the Palestine cause of late, nonetheless.

As Rubio was leaving, former President Barack Obama was landing to speak at a conference in the country’s largest indoor venue, being paid hundreds of thousands to address business leaders and an audience of 10,000 participants.

The truth is that Portugal’s government is much more at ease with globalists like Obama, who speak on climate change and racial discrimination. In Portugal, Obama was hosted by the PSD mayor of Cascais—where Obama’s private jet landed—and by Portugal’s left-wing president, a somewhat ceremonial position overseeing the parliamentary system.

While Rubio got an awkward interview with some poignant questions by the far-left media, Obama enjoyed swooning magazine covers, broadsheet profiles, TV pundit toadies, and selfies with influencers.

It is almost as if the rise of national-conservative parties in Europe had meant nothing—even in Portugal, where CHEGA! is not the most popular party in the polls. It is as if the establishment learned nothing from underestimating and despising Trump, only to see him come back again with a vengeance. Not to mention that Marco Rubio may very well be the next president himself, let alone already being one of the closest officials to President Trump.

The out-of-touch elites are still stubbornly sticking their heads in the sand, and the corrupt mainstream media is still betting on attitudes that cause them to bleed audience.

Ten years on and Europe is still asleep. What will it take to wake them to reality?