By David BroderCaroline de GruyterMattia Ferraresi and Tim Schneider

Mr. Broder is the author of “Mussolini’s Grandchildren.” Ms. de Gruyter is a columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC. Mr. Ferraresi is a writer for the Italian newspaper QN. Mr. Schneider is an editor in Times Opinion.

The far right has been rising in Europe for a long time — Edward Luttwak called fascism “the wave of the future” back in 1994 — but last month’s electoral breakthrough in Saxony-Anhalt by the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, felt seismic. For the first time in Germany’s postwar history, a far-right party stands on the brink of power. The AfD joins a legion of others, not least Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, either in office or perilously close to it.

In a written online conversation, Tim Schneider, an editor in Times Opinion, hosted David Broder, author of “Mussolini’s Grandchildren”; Caroline de Gruyter, a columnist for the Dutch newspaper NRC; and Mattia Ferraresi, a writer for the Italian newspaper QN, to discuss Europe’s thriving far right, the roots of its success, its plans for power and, of course, what President Trump has to do with it all.