France’s Le Pen Exits the National Front Party

As expected, Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron were the two winners of the first round in the French presidential election. Regardless of which of the two candidates will win the second round, the great loser will be the political establishment. Both Le Pen and Macron are outsiders.

Macron was the Minister of Economy and Finance under President François Hollande’s socialist government. Last year he started his own party En Marche and managed in a single year to become one of the two contenders for the presidency. The fact that an unknown politician can win the first round of the presidential race with a newly formed party reflects the great contempt the French people have developed for the political establishment in recent years.

Le Pen became the second winner despite an uphill battle against a tarnished family name and a political party that cannot be stomached by a large proportion of the French population, due to a widespread impression of racism and xenophobia. As the party leader, she excluded her father from the party four years ago, in an effort to recover the reputation of her party National Front.

However, Le Pen now takes this rebranding process one step further by temporarily stepping down as the party leader. Independent:

Tonight, I am no longer the president of the National Front. I am the presidential candidate," Ms Le Pen said on French public television news.

Le Pen is becoming increasingly popular, much more so than her own party, and most likely she now publically disassociates herself with Front National to broaden her appeal among French voters.

This may be a smart move because a poll conducted right after the first round indicated that Macron would win with ease in the second round. From Financial Times:

Opinionway’s latest poll predicted Mr Macron would win 61 per cent of the vote in the May 7 run-off, with Ms Le Pen on 39 per cent. The results were based on questions to more than 2000 voters on Sunday and Monday.

Le Pen most certainly has a branding problem, because the media almost exclusively refer to her as “far right” even though on most issues, such as welfare and finance, she is centrist by European standards. The only thing that places her in the “far right” category is that she does not want to have open borders. It is worth pondering that for a moment. A position on immigration that is entirely rational and centrist in very many places in the world, such as in Japan, is considered “far right” by the French media and the globalist elite.

Despite being two outsiders, and having similar positions on many issues, Le Pen and Macron are nevertheless polar opposites on this crucial issue of immigration that will determine the election -- especially from Muslim countries. Here Macron is firmly globalist and Le Pen staunchly nationalist.

Macron has made public statements that place him solidly in the category of the globalist elite – completely out of touch with the experience of ordinary people. In reaction to a recent terrorist attack, Macron told French voters terrorism was just something they would have to accept and tolerate as “a fact of daily life in the coming years,” because there was nothing that could be done about it.

Le Pen lambasted him and explained to the voters that something could be done about it, but that Macron does not want to do what is needed. This appears to be the crux of the great political battle that is ensuing in both America and other parts of Europe.

British political commentator commonly referred to as “Sargon of Akkad” shows why Le Pen could win, if Macron insists on ignoring the plight of his people.

Here is an excellent video of Sargon explaining the situation in France. Warning: this contains strong language. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPFtwMcjzRs

For years, there has been a state of lawlessness in French cities, where the police allow blatant disregard for the authorities to prevail. The French people have silently observed this appeasement to crime, terror, and bullying with horror. The upcoming election will tell if sufficient numbers of them have grown tired of ignoring the problem.