Ghost Coast.: Gérald Darmanin, his interior minister, is very, very right wing, reads far right writers and "thinkers" such as Éric Zemmour, and once said to Le Pen that *she* was soft on Muslims. LE PEN. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Gk...

UPDATE: What is happening in France today? Left candidates who came in 3rd are dropping out of the runoffs to block the far-right. *Many* Macronists, including incumbents, are doing the same when they came in third. But... many said they won't. (I'd say about half/half right now? Deadline tmrw.)

THE sentence of the day: A Macronist incumbent in the Marseille region came in 3rd in her seat. She just dropped out to support the left. She said, about why she's maneuvering to block the far-right: "Defeats happen, but you can never recover from dishonor."

Another example of Macronists dropping out (the big thing to watch today): The "Hautes-Alpes" has 2 seats, both currently held by Macron's party. Yesterday, Macron's candidates arrived third in each district, behind the RN & the PS. They've both said they're dropping out.

But, again, some Macronists are not dropping out at this hour in places where they are third & RN can win. See these two districts as example. Far-right under 35% in each... but that'd be enough in a 3-way.

A Macronist who came in 3rd place in southern France says he is dropping out to block the far-right. Results here: RN 36%, left 29%, Macronist 25%. What's interesting...: He said as he dropped out that he got calls to *not* do so, including from Macron. lemonde.fr/politique/li...

Is there a reason Macron doesn't want to work with the left to block the far right? Seems like "maximize non right wing seats" via coalition would be the no brainer option.

That'd be assuming he'd prefer a strong left, which would seem evidently he does not.

What would a strong left look like in France vs a Macron France? It's probably just my US lens, but it seems more like they'd be natural allies in this scenario than "give the keys to the Nazis instead".

Macron's political choices and views are very much on the far-right side. It's repackaged in a somewhat more palatable way, but according to a lot of French people (myself included) he's one of the main reasons why the RN is so prevalent these days

This is a good point, & a good example of this was when he passed an immigration bill that was, to put it very mildly, controversial within his own party, and backed by the RN. " Ms Le Pen welcomed the amended bill, calling it an "ideological victory" for the far-right." www.bbc.com/news/world-e...

Macron defends tougher immigration reform as 'shield'www.bbc.com The law - backed by France's far right - makes it more difficult for migrants to bring over family members.

Rim-Sarah Alouane wrote a great essay in '22 about this & how Le Pen can focus " on everyday issues, such as rising energy bills and the cost of living, safe in the knowledge that on immigration, citizenship and “national identity,” she’s already won the argument." www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/o...

Opinion | Marine Le Pen Is as Dangerous as Ever (Published 2022)www.nytimes.com As a French Muslim citizen, I fear for my country.

Gérald Darmanin, his interior minister, is very, very right wing, reads far right writers and "thinkers" such as Éric Zemmour, and once said to Le Pen that *she* was soft on Muslims. LE PEN. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%A9... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Gk...

French interior minister calls Marine Le Pen ‘soft’ on Islamwww.youtube.com An exchange from a televised debate in France has gone viral after France’s interior minister called far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen “soft” wh...

The trouble w/ Macron is that the way he's been framed, as has centrism in Europe & North America in general, is as a safe &moderate pair of hands & friendly 2008-era Obama energy. The reality is that, as Mya L points out, there's no difference between his views and Le Pen's, just how the marketing.

It's not just in France. We've seen similar situations in the Netherlands and Germany, where the far right has won over the years - not always in terms of coming first at the ballot box, but in terms of legislation that eventually paves their way towards power.

Yes. In the Netherlands the rightwing businness friendly VVD has been increasingly using far right rhetoric and policies in a bid to stay in power and are now backing a fascist run government. Only 20 years ago they were in a coalition with Dutch Labour...

Yes & it rankles whenever Rutte's spoken about as 'just' a "pragmatic" leader outside the Netherlands, or when people would go "Oh we kept the far right (Wilders) away, we've won!" every election. Er, no - Wilders (Pim Fortuyn, and others before him) had already won before you cast your vote.

All of this seems to be ringing far too true for a lot of western democracies these days

Definitely see it here in the US too. Far right plays the incredibly long game at all levels of government.

Yes, and one of the reasons why people are critical of centrists esp. in the European and N. American contexts is that a lot of what we're seeing in terms of far right wins comes out of one-sided "compromises" that weaken worker rights, civil liberties etc, in the name of civility.

*how the marketing goes. (Typo)

Interesting.

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