I’m kidding, of course. Jeb! was disqualified on some legal mumbo-jumbo technicalities, like “not being a French citizen” and “not actually running for President of France.”
IRL, it looks like Macron is now 2-0 against Marine Le Pen:
Emmanuel Macron is projected to become the first French president in two decades to win a second term, holding off a far-right challenge by Marine Le Pen that could have upended Europe.
Macron won 58 percent of the vote and Le Pen 42 percent in the initial projected results released by France’s public broadcaster.
Macron’s likely victory offers continuity for France and another five years of political stability for the 27-nation European Union, which has been buffeted by years of challenges from far-right populists, Brexit, an immigration crisis, and now Russia’s war in Ukraine. France and Germany are the pillars of the bloc, and policymakers in capitals across the continent had been watching the election with anxiety.
Despite Le Pen’s apparent defeat, Sunday’s projections were the best result the far-right has ever received in a French presidential election.
A win by Le Pen, 53, would have put an anti-immigrant populist who has expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin in charge of the European Union’s second-biggest economy and its only nuclear power. It would have also replaced a fervent E.U. defender with a fierce critic of the bloc.
Poor Vlad can’t catch a break in 2022, can he?
Not surprisingly, the ritual pointing and laughing at Marine Le Pen is well under way, and I am more than happy to participate.
The Beeb’s Paul Kirby is one of several commentators I’ve seen pointing out that (a) Le Pen is now a three-time loser in French Presidential elections, and (b) that if she was ever going to have a shot at winning it was in 2022, and she failed:
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