French Presidential candidate Marine Le Pen says she is temporarily stepping down as head of her National Front party. She is still in the race, just attempting to distance herself a bit more from her party to broaden her appeal. The May 7 run-off between herself and Emmanuel Macron, will be interesting for it is a test of how strong the populist movement has become.
People who think “populist” is a particular philosophy are seriously wrong. It was a “populist” movement that put FDR in the White House in 1933. It also put into power Lenin, Hitler and Mao. “Populist” is effectively the label applied to any movement against the establishment. Indeed, FDR actually did embrace many elements of fascism, which differs from communism insofar as it supported worker unions and the ownership of business run by the workers. The Populist movement was in fact Marxism during the late 19th century, which manifested into Communism, fascism, and socialism. All three were constructed upon a strong central power of government to different degrees.
“Populist” Movements are not particularly a single right or left philosophy. The term is applied to effectively to an anti-establishment movement against the status quo.
Le Pen said “Tonight, I am no longer the president of the National Front. I am the presidential candidate,” on French public television news. She hopes that by distancing herself from the party founded by her father in 1972, more people will reach out to her for real change in France. Le Pen hopes to tap into the Eurosceptic and protectionist voters in other parties. The underling “populist” trend is certainly anti-EU throughout all of Europe to varying degrees.
Macron is the favorite of Brussels and all the politicians nobody wants to vote for, so what does that really tell you? All the politicians are cheering only because they do not want any real change. They like everything as is – thank you very much they say off camera. But Macron is really out there in la la land. Those who think Trump says some crazy stuff, should turn and look at Macron. How about these!
“I’ve always accepted the vertical dimension, of transcendence, but, at the same time, it has to be utterly anchored in the immanent, in the material.”
Ok, not sure what that means at all. How about this one!
“We all have our roots. And because we all do, there are trees next to us, there are rivers, there are fish. There are brothers and sisters …”
Ok roots and trees go together. What about the rivers and fish? Brothers and sisters is family. Does everyone come from fish out of the river?
If he will be the new face of France, I would probably want to double short the Euro when the cycle changes.
