What Marine Le Pen’s Success Could Teach Us About Politics
If politics is no longer a linear line, the far-right is not very far
I interviewed Marine Le Pen twice. The first time was in 2015, shortly after the horrific terror attacks on the “Charlie Hebdo” newspaper, and the Jewish supermarket “HyperCacher”. Back then she was a European Parliament member and we met at her very small office in Strasbourg. Her schedule was very light. My request for an interview was accepted almost immediately and we spent more than two hours talking.
The second interview was completely different. It was in 2017, the first day of Le Pen’s official presidential campaign. This time we met in her very large and very impressive office in Paris. The headquarters was full of people and advisors, the schedule was tight. Le Pen was as welcoming as ever, smiling patiently while I was breaking my teeth with basic French. Other than her smile one more thing stayed the same, her message. 2017's Le Pen, same as 2015's, and 2012's all emphasized the dangers of uncontrollable immigration, the loss of the “True French identity”, a harsh language against radical Islam, and generally the need to “make France great again”.
In 2012 she received 17.9% of the votes coming in third. Five years later she managed to go through to the second round…
