It’s ironic that, at a time when we are investigating Russian meddling in our election, both of our last two presidents openly meddled in France’s election, this past Sunday. Have we ever interfered with a foreign election before? Do we now have the moral right to criticize Russia for its activities?
Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen have a long relationship. Le Pen’s father endorsed Trump more than a year ago.
Jean-Marie Le Pen, the controversial father of France’s far-right National Front, on Saturday voiced his support for billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump’s insurgent bid for the White House. The de facto endorsement insinuates an unflattering — and unsought — connection between Trump and Le Pen, a known racist who was expelled last year from the National Front for his inflammatory rhetoric.
Marine Le Pen visited Trump Tower in January, according to business channel, CNBC.
The Washington Times also reported the visit, adding that Le Pen is also a fan of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Ms. Le Pen was an early supporter of Mr. Trump and one of the first foreign politicians to congratulate him on his upset victory. She was spotted by reporters in the Trump Ice Cream Parlor with George Lombardi, an Italian businessman who lives in Trump Tower and has described himself as a contact between the president-elect and Europe’s conservative politicians. . . She has voiced support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for stricter immigration controls to fight radical Islamic terrorism.
Le Pen has been called “The French Trump,” according to the Washington Examiner.
just as Trump was earlier referred to as “The American Le Pen,” back in 2015.
Hot Air notes that Trump actually “quasi-endorsed” Le Pen.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Trump said that while he is not explicitly endorsing Le Pen, the [Paris] attack [yesterday] played to her strengths.
“She’s the strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France,” Trump said in the Oval Office interview. “Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election.”…
Meanwhile, Barack Obama has not hidden his preference for the other top French vote-getter, Emmanuel Macron, according to Breitbart.
“Former President Barack Obama gently waded back into international politics on Thursday, talking by phone with French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron,” Politico reported.
Obama’s spokesman, however, denied that the phone call and Macron’s tweet to the former president following the phone call are an endorsement:
“An endorsement was not the purpose of the call, as President Obama is not making any formal endorsement,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said.
In fact, The Hill notes that the call was placed by Macron, not Obama.
Former President Obama’s call to French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron was not meant as an endorsement, an Obama spokesman [Kevin Lewis] said Thursday. . .
President Obama appreciated the opportunity to hear from Mr. Macron about his campaign and the important upcoming presidential election in France, a country that President Obama remains deeply committed to as a close ally of the United States, and as a leader on behalf of liberal values in Europe and around the world.
Meanwhile, Breitbart calls Macron “France’s Obama,” and in typical off-the-rails hyperbole, calls Macron a “Manchurian Candidate’ [a reference to two movies, in which a foreign government hypnotizes/manipulates a candidate to work against his own people.] But Breitbart assumes that Macron will win the runoff.
The fact that he is a hollow man – a slippery, snake-oil-salesman with a winning smile and nice suits – who will do almost nothing seriously to address France’s massive social and economic problems is a help, not a hindrance. . .
Like Obama, he got where is because the System arranged it that way. Consider, for example, how ruthlessly the best of the Presidential candidates – the Thatcherite François Fillon – was destroyed by an unwholesome alliance of the government Deep State and the judiciary. . .
All France has done is to guarantee the election of a lame-duck caretaker president – Continuation Hollande – who will ensure that France’s ongoing decline will continue unabated. Its industries will stagnate; its social unrest will intensify; ever greater numbers of its citizenry will be murdered in homegrown terrorist attacks; its economy will tank; the country that was once arguably the most civilised and beautiful and sophisticated in all the world will descend ever deeper into chaos, ugliness, and despair.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Sunday election was that France rejected BOTH of is major parties. Imagine if America had rejected the Republicans and Democrats and set up a runoff between Jill Stein and Evan McMullin.
