It was only a matter of time before DJT started mucking about with international politics and elections in other countries, “endorsing” the most extreme most far right candidate possible in the French election: Marine Le Pen.
The only question in my mind is whether he did this at Putin’s direction, or Bannon’s. Since DJT hasn’t been reading his briefing books, he couldn’t give a damn who wins in France because there is “nothing” in it for him.
So who drew his attention to it? Who told him about the players involved? Who steered him in the direction of Le Pen without also explaining to him how vile it is to associated with the racist, holocaust-denying elements of the National Front?
Wait, I forgot who I was talking about for a minute there. Racist holocaust denial might be a feature, not a bug.
DJT offered his Le Pen endorsement in the guise of a “prediction”, saying "Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election."
Apparently “Les Deplorables” listen to him and care about his opinion just as deplorables do in this country, because after DJT said Le Pen was the “strongest on borders” she got a slight bump up in the polls.
Now she has finished in the top two out of the eleven candidates. Damn. This will go to his head for all the wrong reasons.
France has been struggling with xenophobia in general and anti-Muslim feeling in particular. The terrorist attacks in recent years and the shootings on the Champs-Élysées last Thursday must have pulled anti-Islamicists to the polls in droves. Le Pen finished only 2.5% behind front-runner Emmanuel Macron, the center-left candidate who received a supportive call from BHO.
Center-right former prime minister François Fillon was thought to be the favorite to win the presidency until his campaign got mired in financial scandal including extravagant spending on personal wardrobe (shades of $i$ter $arah) and high paid no-show jobs for family members (DJT groks nepotism). But he finished third, a mere 1.5% behind Le Pen and only 0.3% ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left candidate who resists the Communist label but definitely has political partnerships with Communist allies.
Any two of these could have ended up in the runoff. All other candidates finished in the single digits. If the left had not been so fractured (where have we heard that before) Fillon would have finished in fourth place behind Mélenchon.
Xenophobes are always isolationists, who would like nothing better than for France to withdraw from the EU and NATO. That could have been accomplished with Le Pen or Mélenchon (!) two candidates who share a very negative attitude toward the EU and NATO even as they stand at opposite ends of the French political spectrum. But DJT cannot support Mélenchon because of the socialist and communist ties of Mélenchon’s “Unsubmissive France” party. That leaves Le Pen as the only candidate DJT could support.
It makes more sense that Bannon is the one pushing this on DJT, willing to set misogyny aside temporarily to help elect the “French Trump”, make France French again, help spread far-right government all over the world and take credit for pulling off two RW political upsets in six months. In love with France, Bannon’s fingerprints are already all over the French right as they copy him and he copies them.
France even has websites following the Breitbart formula:
the so-called “réinformation” media — a collection of independent outlets that claim to be news sites, but act more as propaganda platforms for far-right groups like Le Pen’s Front National (FN).
Another angle is that Bannon or Putin could have pulled DJT into the election by playing to his ego and his need to feel like a bigger man than Obama, who made a televised phone call of support to Macron over the weekend.
Macron is the safe choice, and probably Francois Hollande’s choice although Hollande has not officially endorsed anyone. Barack Obama is the kind of man who probably follows international politics for fun, and Macron is pro-NATO and pro-USA.
If this turns into a proxy election between DJT and President Obama, that’s probably good news for Macron. A guest on AM Joy this morning said that Obama has an 80% approval rating in France while DJT is seen as something of “a flake”. As a result, Le Pen knows it is a mixed blessing to have DJT on her side.
In recent years, she has been trying to claim the National Front is not an extreme right party, much in the same way Bannon denies being a white nationalist. She banned her wingnut father Jean-Marie Le Pen from the party he founded, but her young niece, Maréchal Le Pen, has been sucking up to Bannon and Palin and their ilk, and multiple forces encouraging Frexit—pushing to for France to leave the eurozone, and NATO.
All this makes Bannon the obvious choice to be pulling these strings, but DJT is desperate to demote the status of President Bannon and make him “just a guy who works for me”.
On the other hand DJT is happy to think of Putin as an equal: head of the other superpower, a strong leader, and all that, and in his heart he knows he owes his election at least in part to Putin’s influence and interference. Even if DJT and Putin are not talking directly, we don’t know whether there are operatives in the DJT administration passing along Putin’s messages. We do know for certain that destablizing Europe and weakening NATO are two goals near and dear to Putin’s heart, and Le Pen’s election, should that befall us, would accomplish both of those things.
So is it Putin, or Bannon, pushing this course of action on DJT? Or maybe both?
Because you know damn well he wasn't paying attention to the election in France on his own.
In 1981 I knew nothing about the National Front. Now 36 years later Sting gets a rare (from me) pass for the use of the c word in this lyric.
PREVIOUS TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Apr 22: BLUE RIBBONS: Flipthe6th voters, tax return marchers, and international (!) marchers for Science
Apr 21: But he’s not *running* as a “pro-life” candidate?
Apr 20: Is it good or bad that DJT has no idea what he is doing with respect to North Korea?
Apr 19: What Huckabee actually DID say, about journalism, was totally outrageous
Apr 18: Another 20 point swing means the Rs are scrambling to regroup
Apr 17: The number of persuadables is growing as people lose confidence in DJT
Apr 16: TBR SUNDAY: He shook up the world—Easter fears can be overcome with Easter JOY
Apr 15: BLUE RIBBONS: David Fahrenthold, Amariyanna Copeny, Chasity Wells-Armstrong, the ASAN
Apr 14: Everyone talking, everyone reaching out—is it helping?
Apr 13: Three ways to respond to the stress overload of current political news
Apr 12: Republicons--the party of cruelty
Apr 11: Spicer’s comment was MUCH more than just an “insensitive reference to the holocaust”
Apr 10: If DJT changes policy based on televised images... let’s show him some
Apr 9: TBR SUNDAY: DJT supporters do not realize nuclear war could mean the end of the world
Apr 8: BLUE RIBBONS: Jeff Merkley, Gina Mathew & Connor Balthazor, 70 (!) advertisers dump Bill-O
Apr 7: Not taking our eyes off Heitkamp, Manchin and Donnelly—they should be primaried
Apr 6: Take Me to Your Leader
Apr 5: DJT ran for POTUS to get back at Obama but the person he is discrediting is himself
Apr 4: Obama’s is bigger—Twitter following, inauguration crowd size, and approval rating
Apr 3: Filibuster a SCt nominee? Ds are changing the rules! This never happened before !1!
Apr 2: TBR SUNDAY: Put Your Lights On
Apr 1: BLUE RIBBONS for 4/1/17—Dick Cheney, Richard Burr, Rick Wilson
MARCH
Mar 31: The possible reasons Flynn was refused immunity are all good for the Blue Team
Mar 30: Special Assistant Ivanka—every word she says from now on is a DJT advertising ploy
Mar 29: “It’s just that valuable” — do you know the MAIN reasons Ryan wants to pass the AHCA?
Mar 28: Nipping at their heels
Mar 27: In cheering Republicon failures, think like a surgeon
Mar 26: TBR SUNDAY: Dare we hope the tide is turning? Or is that unrealistically optimistic?
Mar 25: BLUE RIBBONS: Sheldon Whitehouse, Al Franken, Bobby Brooks, Betsy Anderson, ACA phone callers
Mar 24: HaHaHa-Ha-Ha You’re gonna need Congressional approval and you don’t have the votes
Mar 23: Rcons hate Obamacare for selfish, greedy, racist reasons, but not enough to fix it.
Mar 22: Neil Gorsuch’s attempt to seem wide-eyed and innocent makes him look even worse
Mar 21: Using Trump as a bad example—no Trump Sleep, Trump Food or other Trump habits
Mar 20: Is DJT a compulsive liar, or out of touch with reality? Five scenarios...
Mar 19: TBR SUNDAY: A budget is a moral document—a statement of public compassion
Mar 18: BLUE RIBBONS: CBO scorers, Senate Intelligence Committee, Judge Derrick Watson
Mar 17: They know DJT is lying. Here’s one sad reason they follow him anyway.
Mar 16: Mick Mulvaney's ignorant, callous, evil, Republicon definition of compassion
Mar 15: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points re DJT 2005 tax return
Mar 14: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points about Obamacare repeal
Mar 13: Culture, Civilization, Rural America, Working Families—the missing word is a “tell”
Mar 12: TBR SUNDAY: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats.
Mar 11: BLUE RIBBONS: A Day Without a Woman, Native Nations Rise, Voting Rights Act still lives
Mar 10: How to talk to people who have trouble understanding actions have consequences
Mar 9: Where’s the fire? The real reason Rs are trying to rush TrumpCare through Congress
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: TBR SUNDAY: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: BLUE RIBBONS: Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: TBR SUNDAY: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: BLUE RIBBONS: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: TBR SUNDAY: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: BLUE RIBBONS: Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: TBR SUNDAY: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: BLUE RIBBONS: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: TBR SUNDAY: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: BLUE RIBBONS: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: TBR SUNDAY: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: BLUE RIBBONS: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: TBR SUNDAY: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense