Opinion
Ken Timmerman’s Threat Watch, www.kentimmerman.com, 6-14-24
| What started out as an election for the European Parliament has turned into a political crisis of major proportions in France, where I am currently. The French political class has reaped what it has sown. For two generations after WWII they have put personality over nation, and have jettisoned national sovereignty in favor of a “Europe” that believes it is above the people of its member states. The result? The “nationalist” parties won a huge victory throughout the EU, despite decades of being stigmatized as “far-right” or “extreme-right,” a pathetic attempt to brand them as neo-Nazis. Nowhere was their victory more stunning than in France, where the National Rally led by twice-failed presidential candidate Marine LePen won over 32% of the vote – more than twice the score of French president Macron’s own party. Macron’s response was immediate. He dissolved parliament and called for snap elections. Now the word on the airwaves is that Macron was hoping the parties on the left and the right would be incapable of forging an electoral alliance in just one week, the deadline for announcing their lists. Surprise! Both groups, which each account for somewhere between 35-40% of the electorate, succeeded in forging an electoral pact. But there were bumps along the way. Marianne Marechal Le Pen, who left her aunt’s National Rally party to join former TV personality Eric Zamour, announced on live TV that their party would join the National Rally for the legislatives. The look of astonishment on Zamour’s face was hilarious. Apparently, he hadn’t been consulted. The next day he called Ms. LePen a traitor, surrounded by professional traitors. I have never met Ms. LePen. But I did know her father, French photojournalist Roger Auque. I recount our time together in the battle of Tripoli, Lebanon, in my memoir, And the Rest is History, (Roger went on to become a French ambassador, and wrote a tell-all book that was published posthumously in which he announced his paternity of Mariane Marechal Le Pen as well as his lifetime clandestine work for French intelligence….) Macron promptly denounced the Left as anti-Semites, and the Right as fascists, hoping he can drive his small centrist coalition through the gap like a quarterback sneak. The man’s narcissism is legendary. During his first run for public office in 2017, he ran for president of the Republic – and won. He then invented a brand new political party which he called “En Marche.” It means, “Forward.” But everyone referred to it by its initials, EM. The same initials as Emmanuel Macron. The joke at the time was that EM could run a goat for parliament as long as it appeared on a list with Macron’s name on it. Now Little Cooke, as I call him, has renamed his party “Renaissance.” It doesn’t get much more arrogant than that. Will he pull off yet another electoral victory, turning the political tables on his rivals as he has done repeatedly since 2017? He certainly thinks he will. I think the stunning election victory of the right-wing parties shows that the French have finally had enough of Little Cookie’s arrogance. The French love to fire their leaders. They might be about to do it again. Yours in freedom from a liberated corner of the south of France, Ken |
| Ken Timmerman’s 12th book of non-fiction, AND THE REST IS HISTORY: Tales of Hostages, Arms Dealers, Dirty Tricks, and Spies, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here. – Senior Fellow, America First Policy Institute (current) – Republican nominee for Congress, Maryland District 8 (2012) – President & CEO, Foundation for Democracy in Iran, www.iran.org – Nobel Peace Prize nominee, 2006 Cell: 301-675-7922 Follow me on Twitter @kentimmerman #TheElectionHeist Facebook: ken timmerman Reply to: [email protected] Website: kentimmerman.com |
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
