Le Pen’s French election victory no cause for panic

The National Rally is an exceptionally nasty group. It now wears a smiling mask to attract naive new members nursing a grievance, but also constantly blows on a big dog whistle.

France’s National Rally Leader Marine Le Pen, pictured in 2017, has been ‘detoxifying’ the party to make it electable since taking over in 2011. Like most makeovers, it was mainly cosmetic, writes Gwynne Dyer. Photograph courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons

Opinion

BY GWYNNE DYER

July 4, 2024

LONDON, U.K.—Nothing else in France looks like the 1930s, so why should fascism? There really is a fascist movement in France, although it avoids torch-lit marches and jackboots. It has even stopped the Holocaust denial (mostly).

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