Why the French chose the ‘radical far right’ over Macron’s establishment

Why the French chose the ‘radical far right’ over Macron’s establishment

RT

French President Emmanuel Macron figured that he would toss a grenade at the anti-establishment right that beat his team in the European parliamentary elections last month, as Le Monde reported. He apparently figured that even though French voters favored Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party to keep Brussels’ Eurocrats in check, surely they would still find the so-called “far-right” too scary up-close in a national election. 

So Macron triggered what might go down as one of the dumbest unforced errors in political history. 

Even though an Ipsos survey taken in May indicated that 39% of the French viewed their vote at the EU level solely through the prism of a burning desire to spank Macron, he dissolved parliament and dared them to do it again. Maybe he just really likes spankings? Or else this is one guy who should probably steer clear of the betting tables in Las Vegas. Because the French just grabbed a hold of his grenade with both hands and used it to blow his beret right off his toupee.  

Team Macron didn’t even come in second this time, in the first of two rounds of voting. It came in third, with a projected 20%, behind both anti-establishment parties. The big winner, yet again, was Le Pen’s anti-establishment right National Rally party with about 33%, and the anti-establishment left New Popular Front coalition placed second at an estimated 28%. 

Not only did the much vilified “far-right” anti-establishment just win this round of voting, but there’s now even talk of them potentially securing between 260 to 310 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly — which could meet the 289 seats required for a majority government, according to an Elabe polling analysis. 

So now with Macron’s establishment party purged, leaving the anti-establishment right and left, the political cards are getting reshuffled for a second-round vote on Sunday, July 7, that’s set to determine the true ideological heart and soul of France.

With this losing bet, Macron has virtually guaranteed himself a final three years of his presidency as a captain adrift legislatively, constantly fighting whatever crew he ultimately ends up with in government. And both sides of the anti-establishment political divide on the right and left are celebrating that.

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