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Tag: Populists
July 1, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Politics
World

Populists Win French Election 1st Round, But…

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party has won the first round of France’s snap legislative elections, with the globalist Ensemble (Together) bloc formed around President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party falling to third place. However, Macron’s globalists and the far-left New Popular Front (NFP) can still prevent the populists from taking government by allying ahead of the election’s second round on July 7.

RN won with a plurality rather than a majority of the popular vote, with 33.2 percent—slightly higher than the 31.37 percent RN secured in the recent European Parliament elections. The NFP placed second, with 28 percent, with Ensemble a distant third, with 20 percent.

“Democracy has spoken, and the French have put the RN and its allies at the top, practically wiping out the Macron camp,” said Le Pen, calling for “an absolute majority” in the second round so RN party president  Jordan Bardella “can be appointed Prime Minister in a week’s time.”

In the French system, a candidate must win over 50 percent of the vote in their electoral district to secure a National Assembly seat in the first round of legislative elections. The second round eliminates candidates who receive less than 12.5 percent of registered voter support. The candidate with the most votes among the remaining candidates wins.

WHAT NOW? 

Historically, parties of the far left, center-left, and center-right hammer out district-level pacts to block the populist right at this stage. Jean-Luc Melenchon, de facto leader of the NFP, has said it is standing down in districts where it placed third to give Macron’s globalists a better chance of defeating the RN candidate. Macron has been less explicit about his intentions but also says, “Faced with the National Rally, it is time for a large, clearly democratic and republican rally for the second round.”

The election’s outcome hinges on whether first-round far-left voters and globalist voters are willing to back each other’s parties in the second round. Polling is mixed, with an Odoxa survey showing 41 percent of voters are willing to switch parties to block RN—but 47 percent are willing to switch parties to block NFP, and 44 percent are willing to switch parties to block Ensemble.

The behavior of voters for Les Republicains (the Republicans) could be critical. The so-called center-right party has traditionally sided with the left against RN, but party leader Eric Ciotti proposed a first-of-its-kind pact with Le Pen ahead of this election. This has been partially implemented despite party officials in the same mold as the Mitt Romney wing of the GOP deposing him in a chaotic process—which he contests—over the proposal.

If enough Republican voters switch to RN in the second round, the populists could eke out a slim majority.

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Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party has won the first round of France's snap legislative elections, with the globalist Ensemble (Together) bloc formed around President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party falling to third place. However, Macron's globalists and the far-left New Popular Front (NFP) can still prevent the populists from taking government by allying ahead of the election's second round on July 7. show more
June 25, 2024
Jack Montgomery
World

Macron Threatens ‘Civil War’ if He Doesn’t Win.

Embattled French premier Emmanuel Macron is issuing warnings about a potential “civil war” if the snap legislative elections he has called see his globalist Renaissance party fall behind the populist National Rally (RN) and far-left New Popular Front coalition. According to Macron, the so-called “far right” is presenting solutions to mass migration and the breakdown of social order based on “categorizing people in terms of their religion or origins, and that… leads to division and to civil war.”

Lashing out at France Unbowed, the leading party in the New Popular Front coalition, he claims “there is a civil war behind” their program too, alleging they “categorize[e] people in terms of their religious outlook or the community they belong to.” He argues this can be “a means of justifying isolating them from the broader national community, and in this case, you would have a civil war with those who do not share those same values.”

Macron’s fearmongering highlights the deepening polarization in French politics as the snap elections approaches. Polls project that National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, will place first—as they did in the recent European elections, with more than double Renaissance’s vote share.

Raheem Kassam, Editor-in-Chief of The National Pulse, argues that the French leader called the election in hopes RN would be too low on resources and disorganized to win an outright legislative majority on short notice.

Macron has experienced mixed results. The French right has imploded amid unsuccessful attempts to unite against him. However, the far left’s consolidation into the New Popular Front means that while RN may not secure an outright majority, Renaissance could fall into third place, likely leading to the ousting of Macron’s prime minister and making it difficult for him to govern.

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Embattled French premier Emmanuel Macron is issuing warnings about a potential "civil war" if the snap legislative elections he has called see his globalist Renaissance party fall behind the populist National Rally (RN) and far-left New Popular Front coalition. According to Macron, the so-called "far right" is presenting solutions to mass migration and the breakdown of social order based on "categorizing people in terms of their religion or origins, and that... leads to division and to civil war." show more
meloni
June 21, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Politics
World

Sellout Meloni Slams Door on Hungary’s Orban.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is continuing to sell out her populist platform, turning her back on Hungary’s Viktor Orban following the European Parliament elections.

Orban, a Donald Trump ally whose country is taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) under the slogan ‘Make Europe Great Again,’ is attempting to join forces with Meloni in the European Parliament. Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI) and Orban’s Fidesz won the European elections in their respective countries, and populists generally earned stronger representation than ever before.

However, Meloni is rejecting Orban’s overtures for his Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) to join the populist-leaning European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) euro-group, which she dominates. She is attempting to curry favor with the European People’s Party (EPP) group, in which French and German globalists dominate.

However, Meloni does not appear to be receiving any reward for her behavior. The EPP, Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and Liberals are preparing to carve up the bloc’s top jobs between them, leaving Meloni in the cold.

‘DISCIPLINED.’

Before winning the Italian election in 2022, Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party were considered comparable to Marine Le Pen and National Rally in France, with much of the press denouncing her as the country’s most “far-right” leader since Benito Mussolini.

On becoming Prime Minister, however, she abandoned the anti-mass migration platform she campaigned on, instead focusing on supporting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and the Western proxy war with Russia. Illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean increased, and she also approved higher legal immigration, parroting the globalist narrative that “Europe and Italy need immigration.”

Rather than fellow populists like Viktor Orban, Meloni cultivated left-liberals like Joe Biden, recently attempting to save him from embarrassment when he began wandering off on his own at a G7 summit.

German socialist Martin Schulz, former President of the European Parliament, brags the EU “disciplined” into submitting to the status quo.

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Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is continuing to sell out her populist platform, turning her back on Hungary's Viktor Orban following the European Parliament elections. show more
June 21, 2024
Jack Montgomery
UK

Farage Vows to Break Britain’s Ties to Globalist World Economic Forum.

Nigel Farage is pledging his Reform Party will break Britain’s ties to Klaus Schwab‘s World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of the country’s July 4 snap election. “Reform UK will reject the influence of the World Economic Forum and cancel Britain’s membership of it,” he vowed.

Detractors are attempting to “fact-check” the Brexit leader, claiming “Britain is not and never has been a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF).” This is disingenuous, as the British government has sent representatives to WEF summits in Davos, Switzerland, and, most recently, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for decades.

The British government also directly partners with the WEF on issues such as artificial intelligence (AI), sending a government secondee to its Center for the Fourth Industrial Revolution to shape AI policy in 2018, for example. Additionally, the British government funds WEF projects like the Blue Food Partnership.

Farage has been railing against the WEF as the beating heart of globalism for years, arguing that “the nation-state, run on democratic lines, is much better than people deciding our futures in Swiss ski resorts on their annual jaunt to Davos, or wherever else it may be.”

In contrast, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, projected to become Prime Minister after the July 4 elections, says he prefers Davos to Westminster, where the Houses of Parliament are based.

Farage denounced the leftist as a “full-on globalist” whose “mask has slipped” at the time.

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Nigel Farage is pledging his Reform Party will break Britain's ties to Klaus Schwab's World Economic Forum (WEF) ahead of the country's July 4 snap election. "Reform UK will reject the influence of the World Economic Forum and cancel Britain's membership of it," he vowed. show more
June 20, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Politics
UK

Local Politicians Are Flocking to Farage’s Reform Party.

Local politicians elected as Conservatives (Tories) are defecting to Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, signaling a significant shift on the British right. Jeff Bray, Peter Harris, Richard Everett, and James Codling, all members of Tendring Council in the Clacton constituency (electoral district) where Farage is running for Parliament, joined him at a rally in the seaside town on Tuesday.

“I am proud to stand alongside my colleagues in joining Reform UK to advocate for common-sense policies here in Clacton and the surrounding areas,” said Harris, who, like Bray, is a former chairman of Tendring Council.

Farage welcomed the new members enthusiastically, stating, “Reform UK’s positive message for change is resonating with people across Clacton. I am proud to welcome four new councilors who will play key roles in advancing our cause.”

The Conservatives currently govern Britain under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. They are expected to be ousted by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party after the July 4 snap election, however.

Presiding over record mass migration, failing to deliver a genuine Brexit, and governing from the center-left, the Conservatives have had little to offer their 2019 voters. Polls show they are abandoning Sunak’s party for Reform in droves.

Projections indicate that Farage will win Clacton from the Conservatives with a historic swing. Reform also expects to capture the parliamentary seat of Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden.

The Brexit leader believes Reform can use a parliamentary “bridgehead” to become the true opposition to Labour over the next five years, and win the next general election outright in 2029.

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Local politicians elected as Conservatives (Tories) are defecting to Nigel Farage's Reform Party, signaling a significant shift on the British right. Jeff Bray, Peter Harris, Richard Everett, and James Codling, all members of Tendring Council in the Clacton constituency (electoral district) where Farage is running for Parliament, joined him at a rally in the seaside town on Tuesday. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
In British politics, this is critical
for exclusive members-only insights
In British politics, this is critical show more
for exclusive members-only insights
orban trump
June 19, 2024
Jack Montgomery
World

Make Europe Great Again! – Orban’s Hungary Deploys ‘MEGA’ Slogan for EU Presidency.

Viktor Orban’s Hungary is taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) under the slogan ‘Make Europe Great Again.’ Orban is a longtime ally of Donald Trump, who repopularized the ‘Make America Great Again’ slogan first used by Ronald Reagan and a thorn in the side of the EU establishment.

“It is a reference to an active presidency,” said János Bóka, Orban’s Minister for European Affairs. “We are taking over in a very difficult environment: a war in our neighborhood, the threat of falling behind our global competitors, security concerns, illegal migration, natural disasters, climate change, and demographic challenges.”

Currently in his fourth consecutive term, Orban favors supplying neighboring Ukraine with humanitarian aid rather than weapons, strong borders, and supporting native family formation over mass migration, putting him at odds with most EU leaders. The European Commission, the bloc’s unelected executive, is currently imposing heavy fines on the Hungarian government for refusing to take illegal immigrants.

However, the European Parliament elections have strengthened the Central European country’s position in the EU, with national conservatives and populists placing first or second in many major EU member states, including France, Germany, and Italy.

If Trump regains the White House, Orban will have an ally in the U.S., unlike the actively hostile Joe Biden. The America First leader regularly quotes Orban as saying a second Trump administration would mean far fewer global conflicts.

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Viktor Orban's Hungary is taking over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) under the slogan 'Make Europe Great Again.' Orban is a longtime ally of Donald Trump, who repopularized the 'Make America Great Again' slogan first used by Ronald Reagan and a thorn in the side of the EU establishment. show more
Farage Trump
June 17, 2024
Jack Montgomery
UK

Could Farage be Prime Minister by 2029? – ‘Absolutely.’

Brexit leader Nigel Farage has outlined his ambition to become Prime Minister in 2029, using the July 4 snap election to “establish [a] bridgehead in Parliament” and build a national movement for “genuine change” over the next five years. When the BBC asked if Farage believes he can become Prime Minister by 2029, he replied, “Yes, absolutely.”

He elaborated, saying, “The disconnect between the Labour and Conservative, Westminster-based parties and the country, the thoughts, hopes, and aspirations of ordinary people, are so far apart from where our politics is. And the funny thing is they show no signs of changing.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has put forward Penny Mordaunt, Leader of the House of Commons, as his representative in multiple seven-way debates featuring Sunak’s Conservatives, the Labour Party opposition, and Britain’s major third parties, including Reform. Farage commented that Mordaunt and Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner “sounded the same” during these debates, noting there are “no real, fundamental differences between” Labour and the Conservatives.

Mordaunt, firmly on the left of the Conservative Party, recently published a Bill Gates-endorsed book praising Black Lives Matter and railing against “white privilege” and “transphobia.” She also criticizes British leaders of the past for being too “long-term, male, patient, predictable, factual, planned, heterosexual, white, Christian, Western” in their thinking. Sunak’s elevation and promotion of her as a possible successor suggest the Conservatives are not abandoning their center-left politics.

POLLS. 

Farage’s Reform Party is currently polling ahead of the Conservatives, with Farage projected to win the parliamentary constituency of Clacton.

He believes he can force a merger between Reform and the Conservatives by outcompeting the establishment party on the right. He cites the precedent set by Stephen Harper in Canada, whose Reform Party outcompeted the Progressive Conservative Party. This led to a Unite the Right movement, merging the two parties under Harper’s leadership.

Harper went on to win two terms as Prime Minister.

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Brexit leader Nigel Farage has outlined his ambition to become Prime Minister in 2029, using the July 4 snap election to "establish [a] bridgehead in Parliament" and build a national movement for "genuine change" over the next five years. When the BBC asked if Farage believes he can become Prime Minister by 2029, he replied, "Yes, absolutely." show more
June 11, 2024
World

DATA: French Populists May Triumph in Macron’s Snap Election.

Populist leader Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party is projected to win upcoming snap elections in France. President Emmanuel Macron called the elections after his globalist Renaissance party received only half the populists’ support in elections to the European Parliament.

Polling conducted by Toluna Harris Interactive for Challenges, M6, and RTL indicates that National Rally could secure 235 to 265 seats in the French legislature, a significant increase from its current 88—although still short of the 289 needed for an outright majority.

Macron’s party may see its representation halved from 250 seats to between 125 and 155. Leftist parties might collectively hold 115 to 145 seats, running independently.

RN’s lead in the poll does not guarantee it will form a government, with the possibility of a broad coalition of establishment parties or a hung parliament still on the table.

Even if RN wins a majority, Macron will remain president for the next three years, continuing to oversee defense and foreign policy. Any RN prime minister would wield substantially less power than Macron, with the French system affording the president more executive power than other countries that retain both offices, such as Ireland.

Following Macron’s election announcement, talks of a populist coalition are in the works. RN leaders Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella met with Le Pen’s niece, Marion Maréchal, of the smaller Reconquête (Reconquest) party, to discuss a potential alliance.

The divided French left is also engaging in discussions to form a unified front.

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Populist leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party is projected to win upcoming snap elections in France. President Emmanuel Macron called the elections after his globalist Renaissance party received only half the populists' support in elections to the European Parliament. show more

Editor’s Notes

Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.

RAHEEM J. KASSAM Editor-in-Chief
Look, I think these are some wildly optimistic numbers but the fact they’re coming from establishment sources tells us one of two things: They’ve mustered some fake data very, very quickly to give RN a false sense of security; Macron has underestimated just how poorly his party is performing with the public
for exclusive members-only insights
Look, I think these are some wildly optimistic numbers but the fact they’re coming from establishment sources tells us one of two things: They’ve mustered some fake data very, very quickly to give RN a false sense of security; Macron has underestimated just how poorly his party is performing with the public show more
for exclusive members-only insights
June 6, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Media
Politics
World

Slovak PM Says Soros Encouraged The Assassination Attempt On Him.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived multiple gunshot wounds on May 15, has issued his first public address since the assassination attempt. In a 14-minute video posted on Wednesday, just before a moratorium on electioneering ahead of the European elections, the populist leader said he felt “no hatred towards the stranger who shot me,” saying he was “only a messenger of evil and political hatred, which the politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition developed in Slovakia to unmanageable proportions.”

Fico, an ally of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, is opposed to mass migration and the Western proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. He accused globalist opposition politicians, “foreign-funded political non-governmental organizations,” and corporate media outlets “co-owned by the financial structure of George Soros” of encouraging his attempted assassination by fomenting a poisonous political atmosphere.

“I fundamentally disagree with the single-correct-opinion policy that some major Western democracies are aggressively promoting today,” Fico said. He argued the EU and NATO have “literally sanctified the concept of the single correct opinion” on Ukraine, “namely that the war in Ukraine must continue at any cost in order to weaken the Russian Federation.”

Anyone who disagrees, he complained, is “immediately labeled as a Russian agent.”

Fico recalled charting an independent path for Slovakia during previous terms in office, for example, by refusing to assist the Bill Clinton-led NATO bombing of Serbia and withdrawing Slovak soldiers from Iraq. Now, he argued, “the right to a different opinion has ceased to exist in the EU.”

Michal Šimečka, chairman of the Progressive Slovakia opposition party, has already complained about Fico’s speech, saying he should have promoted social reconciliation. Another opposition leader said Fico, by calling out the globalists who facilitated his shooting, is the one promoting political division.

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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived multiple gunshot wounds on May 15, has issued his first public address since the assassination attempt. In a 14-minute video posted on Wednesday, just before a moratorium on electioneering ahead of the European elections, the populist leader said he felt "no hatred towards the stranger who shot me," saying he was "only a messenger of evil and political hatred, which the politically unsuccessful and frustrated opposition developed in Slovakia to unmanageable proportions." show more
June 6, 2024
Jack Montgomery
Immigration
Politics
World

Populist Politician Stabbed in Same City Where Afghan Killed Cop at Anti-Islam Rally.

Heinrich Koch, a 62-year-old local council candidate for Alternative for Germany (AfD), was stabbed on Tuesday night after confronting a young man who was pulling down political posters in Mannheim. Last Friday, an Afghan migrant attacked a Mannheim anti-Islamization rally organized by the Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa (BpE). Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger and a police officer named as Rouven L. were among the people stabbed by the Afghan, with the officer later dying.

AfD state chairman Markus Frohnmaier said he was “shocked and dismayed” by Koch’s stabbing. National spokesman Tino Chrupalla said the populist party’s “members and representatives are the most frequent victims of political violence” in Germany, but this would not stop them. Koch was reportedly wounded in the stomach and ear and is currently hospitalized.

He captured the incident on video, and the footage is circulating on social media, with some sources describing the attacker as ANTIFA. However, as of the time of publication, this is unconfirmed, and he remains at large.

The AfD is one of several anti-mass migration parties in Western Europe that is expected to make a significant breakthrough in the European Parliament elections later this month. Recent polls have the party either tying or leading the governing Social Democrats, with a significant advantage over its coalition partners, the far-left Greens and neoliberal Free Democrats.

The AfD’s increasing support increasingly perturbs the German political establishment. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has suggested the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution could ban the populist party as a right-wing extremist organization. The notionally center-right Christian Democrats, formerly led by Angela Merkel, have also been working on legislation to outlaw the party.

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Heinrich Koch, a 62-year-old local council candidate for Alternative for Germany (AfD), was stabbed on Tuesday night after confronting a young man who was pulling down political posters in Mannheim. Last Friday, an Afghan migrant attacked a Mannheim anti-Islamization rally organized by the Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa (BpE). Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger and a police officer named as Rouven L. were among the people stabbed by the Afghan, with the officer later dying. show more