And let us be clear, there are two kinds of nationalism, one justified, the other the fuel of war. Liberation nationalism fuels the desire of people to throw off oppressive foreign control; ultranationalism seeks to expel the "outsiders" and uses patriotism as a justification for both repression at home and wars abroad. That is what history has taught us, and I don't think Le Pen is out of the historical pattern, despite her softer image, a calculated decision to enable the far right to take over one of the most successful social democracies in all history.
I may be wrong, but sadly, I rarely am. Go back and read my articles on how the peace initiative with Russia was fake and would not last, how Trump would not deliver his populist promises because he was a global oligarch, how his claims to be the enemy of neo-conservativism was a lie because his advisors were all seasoned neo-cons, how his promise to bring the jobs home from abroad was a lie because 95% of his force was in slave labor nations, how his claim to help the working class (his average supporter makes $96K a year) was propaganda, snake oil. I wish I had been wrong but I have a very active bullshit detector, and I sensed it in Trump and I sense it in his soulmate Le Pen.
Update/May 1:
On the same day, Le Pen's National Front leader has "quit" over a row involving his support for Holocaust denial, a claim he, of course, denies. But he is gone.
At the same time, Paul Gorka, associated with a Hungarian Nazi group, has been fired by Trump.
In both cases, these far right fascists were chosen, then when their sordid Nazi associations (all denied, OF COURSE) were exposed, expelled, to be able to present a friendly face of fascism as Americanism and French Pride.
Co-incidence or signs of the same right wing strategy to establish a friendly fascism, expelling those who are accepted in leadership positions until they are exposed.
Gorka's job was to aid the fight against terrorism. The Nazis came to power with violence, threats, and the promise to fight against terrorism (for them, Jewish/Bolshevik, for today's anti-terrorists, Muslims).
The smell from the cesspool of far right politics, when it hits the public nose, is then blown away as a signal that exposure of fascist ties will not be tolerated!
(Article changed on May 1, 2017 at 13:34)
(Article changed on May 1, 2017 at 17:14)
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