Tommi Finnilä and his wife Nea Finnilä are dedicated Donald Trump’s supporters.
In Finland, they are an exception.
Three out of four Finns would have voted for the Democrats Terrible for Harrisif he had been allowed to vote in the US presidential election. One in ten would vote for Republican Donald Trump.
Why are Republican Donald Trump’s ideology and policies so important to a person from Espoo who does not have the right to vote in the United States?
– It was a fantastic feeling when Trump won the election. I have never been so happy and surprised by the election victory of any other politician or party, says Tommi Finnilä.
During election monitors, for each state victory, he played American music related to the state, such as Midnight Train to Georgia, I’m Proud to be an American and Top Gun Anthem, as well as other songs that were played during Trump’s election campaign.
Patriotic songs and symbols are important to Tommi Finnilä. The slogan of Trump’s election campaign about making America great again – Make America Great Again (MAGA) – adorns both the woolen socks knitted by his wife Tommi Finnilä and the red cap on the man’s head. As a Father’s Day present, the wife gave Tommi a professor and a historian Markku Ruotsilan by the book Trump’s America.
My wife shared a picture of us in our MAGA caps on the X platform. More than 90 percent of the comments were absolutely horrible: insults, swear words and blaming.
Tommi Finnilä, Trump supporter
Trump’s open support in Finland arouses a lot of emotions and reactions. Tommi’s spouse Nea Finnilä has received so many hate comments on social media after public interviews that she decided to withdraw from this interview.
– My wife shared a picture of us in our MAGA caps on the X platform. More than 90 percent of the comments were absolutely horrible: insults, swear words and blaming. I’ve mostly received compliments myself, I don’t know if it’s specifically about hatred towards women who support Trump, says Tommi Finnilä.
Conservatism is on the rise
Europe is aging and conservatism is on the rise in Europe. The group that thinks clearly conservatively is an essential minority in Finland, states the editorial manager of the Business Delegation (Eva) Sami Metelinen. He drafted research analysis about Finns’ attitudes towards the US presidential candidates.
According to Metelinen, the actual number of Trump’s supporters may be higher than the statistics.
– With NATO membership, the United States has become a key ally for the Finns, which is closely monitored. Political grouping is taking place, and more and more people want and dare to be a Trump supporter, even though supporting Republicans in Finland has even been considered special, Metelinen says.
According to Metelinen, there are also signs in Germany that the political themes represented by Trump are beginning to gain wider acceptance than before.
The position of the Caucasian man is being challenged in terms of expanding equality.
Sami Metelinen, editorial manager, Eva
In the big picture, however, the attitudes of Finns have tilted in a more liberal direction in recent decades. According to Metelinen, the group that previously leaned towards conservatism is starting to express more right-wing conservatism than before.
The political division seems to have spread from the United States to Finland as well.
– Ideology escalates. In general, it can be said that today people are more political again, and find support points for their own ideology, which may be personified, for example, in the US presidential elections.
According to Metelinen, the crises and lack of clarity in world politics are related to the need for strong leaders.
– The appeal of people who say they solve problems with simple things has grown even more widely in Western countries.
According to Metelinen, a justified hypothesis for the rise of conservatism and traditional values is also the “crisis of the privileged white man”. It’s about the “woke” that landed in the United States, where it is thought that there are privileged and less privileged groups in society. The term refers to awareness of injustices related to race and social issues.
– The position of the Caucasian man is being challenged in terms of expanding equality. If we want equality to progress, it inevitably means that the position of the privileged groups must weaken.
So why Trump?
Evan research based on the results, Finns’ concern about Trump’s election stems from the fear that his policies could weaken world stability and Finland’s security situation. For Tommi Finnilä, the security issue is the primary reason for his passion for Trump.
Finnilä is a reserve officer and comes from a family where defense issues are highly valued. American questions also radiate to Europe, and here Trump can put hard against hard, Finnilä thinks.
– Trump is the president who is able to bring down the eastern dictators and lead the free western democratic world. When Trump was last president, it was the first time since the Cold War that Russia did not attack any of its neighbors.
Finnilä likes the idea of America as the world policeman and defender of democracy.
– We also have to understand that if America’s biggest enemies, China and Russia, don’t think the same way and benefit financially at the expense of Americans and the entire Western world, then soon we will have a dictatorial, communist China as world police instead of the liberal and democratic United States.
“Finland could take a model”
Finnilä has been satisfied with both President Niinistö and Stubb. But there can always be more than Trump, he adds.
– Trump really controls the rhetoric and the show. Compared to him, almost every politician in Finland is boring.
Finland would need a president who is like Trump to some extent, Finnilä estimates.
– I see Trump as the author of the deal. He thinks about what’s best for the American taxpayer and for them to have as much money in their pockets as possible. Finland could take a model from this.
Finnilä thinks that there are many things that Finland could take a model from the United States. He is attracted by Trump’s conservative and right-wing ideology. He thinks that the Nordic welfare states could learn from the United States, without completely scrapping the welfare model.
– Everyone should play their cards as efficiently as possible, while helping weaker individuals who are unable to do it themselves.
Project 2025, a conservative manifesto drawn up by think tank The Heritage Foundation in case Donald Trump wins the election, would like to see the dismantling of state institutions and greater centralization of power to the president. Many experts have criticized the manifesto.
What about abortion?
In Finnilä’s opinion, Europe should be more like Trump’s United States, i.e. develop more towards a federal state where decision-making is brought as close as possible to the individual.
– For example, Trump changed the US abortion law, where he moved decision-making from the federal level to the state level, i.e. closer to the citizen.
The Supreme Court overturned the broad right to abortion in the United States in 2022. Trump has courted the Christian right in the election on the issue of abortion.
Finnilä is himself a Christian family man and an advocate of traditional gender roles in marriage.
What does Finnilä think about women’s right to abortion?
Of course, a woman must have the right to self-determination regarding her own body, Finnilä believes.
– But the child’s right to life overrides the right to self-determination in this case. Most abortions are done for social reasons. However, I cannot moralize anyone who has become a victim of a crime.
Finnilä admits, however, that repealing the right to abortion can lead to an even greater fragmentation of the country. Democrats and Republicans have different solutions, for example, to the issue of abortion and the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools, depending on which of the parties is in control in which state.
“Kamala Harris offers narrower freedom of speech”
Trump’s opponent Kamala Harris has been criticized for being too “woke”.
Finnilä thinks it’s great that there is freedom of choice when it comes to people’s own sexual preferences and what they do with their own bodies.
– If a man says he is a woman, he has the right to do so, and he should not be discriminated against or ridiculed for it. But if he tells another person that they must think he’s a woman, even though his biological sex is male, that’s going too far.
In these types of questions, Finnilä thinks that Trump has offered wider freedom of speech than Kamala Harris.
– He has expressed that there is a universal, objective truth in such matters that everyone must accept.
Trump, a dictator?
Trump has been called a dictator and accused of wrecking democracy, especially after the 2021 Occupy Capitol, when Trump supporters occupied the US Congress building.
However, Finnilä sees Trump as a democratic president.
– Kamala Harris has accused Trump of being an enemy of democracy, a dictator and that he is ruining the justice system. The measures he took in the previous election period, such as reducing the state bureaucracy and moving decision-making to the state level, are things that a dictator would never do.
In order to promote Finland becoming a little more like the United States, Finnilä has decided to run for office in the municipal elections next spring.