As reported in The BFD, the CPAC 2021 conference showed beyond doubt that, whether or not Donald Trump runs again, Trumpism will remain the dominant ideological force in American conservatism. Around the rest of the Western world, the populist revolt against the globalist elite shows no sign of abating.
As the rapprochement between the Democrats and the “RINO” establishment Republicans have shown, the elite are determined to have each others’ backs and keep the Great Unwashed from polluting the halls of power. In France, the establishment banded together to keep Marine Le Pen out of the presidency, handing it instead to investment banker and political parvenu Emmanuel Macron.
With the next presidential elections due in 2022, establishment efforts to keep Le Pen out of the Palais de l’Élysée may not be enough to quell the populist uprising.
Almost half of French voters see Marine Le Pen as the “probable” victor of next year’s presidential elections, a poll suggests, amid signs the “Republican front” to block the far-right leader at all costs is crumbling.
The opinion poll by Elabe, which surveyed more than 1000 voters, found that 43 per cent see her victory against incumbent Emmanuel Macron as “probable”, while a further five per cent saw it as “certain”.
The figure was seven percentage points higher than the previous survey six months ago.
But expecting someone to win is not the same as being prepared to vote for them.
The poll found that 36 per cent of those interviewed said they would “probably” vote for the leader of the anti-immigration National Rally – up two points in six months – with the bulk of voter intentions coming from the working class.
More than a third of those intending to vote for her said they intended to plump for Le Pen out of anger towards or opposition against Macron.
If that carried through to actual votes, it would be a significant rise on Le Pen’s 21% first-round share in 2017 – and ahead of Macron’s 24% in the first round. So, what might happen in a repeat of the run-off between Le Pen and Macron?
The findings came two days after another Harris Interactive survey saw Macron as heading for a repeat victory in a face-off with Le Pen, whom he beat in 2017 by 66 per cent to her 34 per cent.
However, this time, the poll found the margin would be far narrower – 53 per cent compared to 47 per cent for the National Rally leader, putting her in striking distance of the centrist.
Worryingly for the Macron camp, it suggested that the Republican front that kept Le Pen away from the presidency last time was almost moribund. In 2017, most first-round voters for the Socialist and radical-left Unbowed France candidates rallied behind Macron in the second.
The Harris poll found that about half of all voters for leftwing and conservative candidates who are eliminated in the first round are not willing to back him again.
As they always do, the media disparage anyone not on the left as “far-right”. But, is it true of Rassemblement national (National Rally) under Marine Le Pen? While party founder, elder Le Pen, Jean-Marie, probably fits the description, daughter Marine has significantly reformed the party, including kicking out her own father. So what does National Rally stand for?
Naturally, the media hysterically focus on RN’s policy of significantly reduced immigration, and especially its opposition both to Muslim immigration and the Islamisation of France. But, despite elite pearl-clutching, those are policies a majority of voters in the West share.
The poll found that the French saw Le Pen as stronger than Macron on immigration, security, and tackling discrimination and violence against women.
Sydney Morning Herald
“Tackling discrimination and violence against women”? Mon dieu! They’re practically Nazis!
In fact, according to even their enemies, RN “combine the social values of the left and the political values of the right”. RN appeal to the average French voter – the sort of grassroots people who might have donned a yellow vest to protest against the ruling elite.
In other words, what Andrew Sullivan dubbed “South Park Republicans”: appealing to ordinary, more-or-less conservative voters who’ve realised that they’re being shafted by both sides of the Establishment.
So, Le Pen might best be described as the “French Trump”. No wonder she terrifies the left-media.
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