AkivaMCohen: BTW, search that quote here on Bluesky and you'll find only one post mentioning it - the one above. (Unless everyone else who bothered has blocked me, I guess.) Do people just not know this about Melanchon? Or does it just not matter?

BTW, I'm pleased that NR lost in France. But it's pretty tough to celebrate the ascendancy of a guy who called French Jews “an arrogant minority that lectures to the rest” in a 2017 speech.

BTW, search that quote here on Bluesky and you'll find only one post mentioning it - the one above. (Unless everyone else who bothered has blocked me, I guess.) Do people just not know this about Melanchon? Or does it just not matter?

This is part of my “no, the Dems would not be center right in Europe” file.

There are a ton of quotes like this, so each person cites something else. Then there are translation artifacts - how do you translate the paragraph whose gist is "France didn't collaborate with the Nazis because I have decided to define Vichy as not-France"?

I know very little about French politics. So I was unaware. I do know that France has an ugly antisemitism problem. And it matters.

it doesn't seem like Melanchon is going to be PM, though?

He's the head of the largest party in the governing coalition and former leader of the opposition in the prior parliament, no? So I would expect him to be. But I'd be glad to be wrong about that

Jews aren't the only people Melanchon has ticked off. we'll see!

He definitely seems to be playing kingmaker, but if he just does that instead of being the king...? Of course, Macron having antagonized everyone on the left is really paying dividends now...

My understanding is that there was some horse trading around the anti-Le Pen coalition, and that it included some pushback on Melancon. But I thoroughly admit this is hearsay on something I have no background.

Also, the NFP is the largest block but they are still far short of a majority. They'll have to work with the center/center-right to either set up a broad coalition or secure a minority government. So in addition to internal horse trading, this second layer should further hamper Melenchon's bid

I suspect that unless one follows French politics very closely, normie Americans wouldn't have known this. (I didn't know it, and I suspect that I follow international politics somewhat more closely than the average yank.)

I didn’t. Does matter.

I listen to a UK politics podcast whose cast includes a French reporter who lives her. She was ecstatic about the left's success. Then one of the Brits on the podcast asked her about Mélenchon. "He's a horrible, horrible, man."

I would guess you could poll millions of Americans and most would have no idea who Melenchon is, let alone what he's said.

Didn't know. Matters. What is your preferred action here? Seems this is the better outcome given the choices.

It definitely is the better outcome. It'd just be nice if people recognized that it was a "lesser of two evils" situation, rather than an unalloyed good

Okay. I didn't see the unalloyed good sentiment. Thank you for reminding us who we're dealing with.

I had no idea. And it matters. Lesser of two evils is sometimes still evil.

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