When the New York Times first wrote that “[Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is] The French Weapon of Mass Distraction: France’s youngest member of Parliament is 25 and she takes no prisoners,” I seriously doubt they ever realized that she could actually become the president of a district in France. However, this stunningly beautiful and smart 26y-ear-old politician is more than just a fresh-faced rising star of the far-right National Front. She is able to deliver hard messages on migrants and Muslims that outdo her tough-talking aunt, party leader Marine Le Pen, by using a soft touch and a smile.
When the national French TV asked me to debate the top three students selected by the elite French schools. I assumed it would be a confrontation that would be interesting. Instead, the students asked me what to do to help their country since they felt powerless to reverse the trend. This was really showing me that a watershed moment was emerging in France. I appeared on different TV channels and the questions were interesting. They even explained the model on National TV.
I was asked to also debate French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on National TV. He said he could not make it. Then at the last minute, he showed up at the TV station assuming I would not be there. They played the prerecorded interview clip that they made while following me around in Paris. CANAL TV confronted Michel Sapin on national TV, which would never happen here in the States. Sapin appeared on air and the host asked him directly about the business cycle and our forecasts. While Sapin claimed that no one can forecast, he then proceeded to forecast that the French economy would boom next year, posting a 1.5% growth rate. The point is that obviously things were changing in France even before the Paris attack.
Tomorrow, the vote in France will be for the leadership councils in 13 French regions. Should both Le Pens win their regions, the anti-immigration National Front will devastate France’s current political landscape. Her aunt will be well positioned to take France’s 2017 presidential campaign. The polls released Wednesday showed both Le Pens behind as Prime Minister Manuel Valls wages the brain-dead Socialist campaign against the National Front, claiming that the Le Pens positions of “the extreme right advocates division … that could lead to civil war.”
Proof that the socialists have destroyed the economy will indeed lead to a revolution or civil war. The fact is that its share market has been unable to ever match, no less exceed, the 2000 high.
