Just in case you were wondering, yep, someone in France has latched onto the idea of moving France out of the EU. Specifically, Marine Le Pen, as reported by RT:
With less than a year to go to secure the hearts of the French people, Marine Le Pen, the leader of far-right party National Front, is offering something no other politician has on their agenda – the choice of leaving the EU. She also promised to defend ‘French values’ and ban the burkini. …
“The British had the courage to choose independence despite all the prophets of doom,” she said. “This referendum on France belonging to the European Union, I will do it. Yes it is possible to change things. Look at the Brits, they chose their destiny, they chose independence,” Le Pen said. “We can again be a free, proud and independent people.”
She seems to be building that ladder to the tree fort using the idea of Frexit as a rung. The question is whether the rung will break, and if she does make it to that tree fort, will it fall out of the tree? I also noted how, like other right-wingers, she adores extreme rhetoric:
“All my opponents have contributed to the collapse of France,” Le Pen said before accusing former president Sarkozy of declaring “allegiance to the worldwide leader of Wahabbism,” claiming he is unfit to rule France following his alleged trip to Morocco in August to befriend Saudi King Salman, RFI reports.
Le Pen called the Islamic fundamentalism the “new totalitarianism of the 21st century”, suggested terrorists were hiding among migrants. “The best weapon against terrorism is the ballot,” she said.
And this just sounds Trumpian:
Promising to defend ‘French values’, Le Pen referred to the recent bans on the burkini swimsuit, commenting that women “have the same right to freedom, to respect, the same faculty to benefit from the French way of life on the beach as in the schools, on the street as at work.”
Not stopping at the seaside resorts, Le Pen promised to introduce a nationwide ban on the burkini and extend the ban on Islamic headscarves to educational institutions and places of work.
The same rights to freedom, so let’s take one away, just to prove it.
I’m hoping our oldest and arguably most steadfast ally doesn’t trip over this divot. The collapse of the EU would not be a positive outcome for the world, economically, strategically, for democracy and justice, the environment, and science.
