Trump’s French foray
It becomes clearer by the day that the United States has a president who speaks before he thinks (including on Twitter). But yesterday’s tossed-off comments about the French election were downright irresponsible.
In an interview with the Associated Press, President Trump opined that the attack in Paris on Thursday on French police officers — for which ISIS almost immediately claimed responsibility — will “probably help” the farright candidate, Marine Le Pen, in France’s upcoming election.
Not that he’s hoping for that outcome, of course. No, no, he wouldn’t dare go there. He told the AP he is not endorsing Le Pen, merely pointing out that she’s “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France.”
With the first round of voting tomorrow, and a third of French voters still undecided, we are to consider this just a little armchair political analysis. But when it falls from the lips of the leader of the free world, who built his own campaign around being “strong on borders,” it is anything but.
Adding to the unseemliness of Trump’s tacit endorsement of Le Pen is the message that his words send to ISIS — that its disruptive, deadly attacks will have the intended effect of striking fear into the hearts of a democratic nation. That while the terrorist outfit may have suffered setbacks, it still has the power to influence the outcome of a free election in the West.
Trump told the AP he’s not worried about emboldening terrorists with his acknowledgment that their attacks work. But he damn well should be.
Of course it is natural to assume that a terrorist attack two days before voting might benefit the candidate who is “strongest on borders” (notwithstanding that the attacker is believed to have been a French national). But Le Pen’s leading opponents haven’t exactly sent engraved invitations to those who would do France harm. And polls have indicated that immigration and security are big concerns for French voters, but their first concern is economic.
French voters have weighty matters before them. They are made no simpler by the interference of the American president.