French presidential race raises worries for the West

Some American political analysts understandably look into the eyes of right-wing French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and see a reflection of right-wing American President Donald J. Trump.

That perception is understandable considering the two brazen political leaders share a bevy of common traits.

Like Trump, Le Pen, who survived the first round of presidential balloting in the nation of 67 million people Sunday, has stoked the flames of nationalism in her anti-global zeal and anti-immigrant policy proposals.

Likewise, Le Pen and Trump have rejected the tenets of mainstream politics and have successfully courted throngs of working-class citizens who feel battered by economic discombobulation and threatened by what many view as elitist governing norms.

Even in their campaigns for their respective nation’s highest offices, Trump and LePen stand in lockstep. Both benefited from Russian interference and hacking of opponents. Both, too, have been tarred and feathered by their political party and other mainstream societal institutions.

It’s therefore hardly surprising that America’s neophyte chief executive recently issued what amounted to a tacit endorsement of the candidacy of Le Pen.

In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Trump called Le Pen the candidate who is “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France. ... Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election.’’

Not surprisingly, Le Pen did do well in Sunday’s first-round balloting, coming in a close second to centrist candidate Emmanuel Macros and defeating 10 other candidates in the process. She and Macron will square off in the French equivalent of the general election for president May 7.

Should Le Pen surprise the pollsters who give Macron an advantage to win the race 11 days from now, look for a stronger Franco-American alliance to take shape. Trump, who surprised virtually all American pollsters and analysts with his Electoral College victory last Nov. 8, will then have a rock-solid ally in his nationalist and anti-immigration leanings.

THREAT TO WESTERN UNITY

But when looking at the bigger picture, a victory by Le Pen and her far-right Front National Party would represent a threat to unity in Western Europe and in the cohesiveness of strong Western military and diplomatic alliances, most notably that of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which the United States is a strong and active participant.

Le Pen, after all, has vowed to extricate France from the European Union and replace the political bloc’s common euro currency with a rejuvenated franc. She also has repeatedly called for a clean French getaway from NATO.

Her American political counterpart who preaches the gospel of “America First” recently flip-flopped from his previous calls for U.S. abandonment of NATO. In so doing, Trump drew the rancor of “France First” proponent Le Pen.

France’s exit from the EU on the heels of Great Britain’s vote to leave it, would likely usher in doomsday for the future viability of the united states of Europe that was born from the ashes of World War II.

Just as importantly, the absence of one of the major powers from the primary Western alliance would come at a time when maximum cohesiveness and strength in numbers is sorely needed to fend off a growing list of intensifying threats to global stability and security. Those range from North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling to the prospects of heightened conflict in Syria and the Middle East to the perils of organized or lone-wolf terrorism throughout the world.

To be sure, however, whoever wins the May 7 election in France will usher in an era of epic change. It will represent the first time since the birth of the Fifth French Republic in 1959 by the venerable Charles De Gaulle that the nation will be led by a member of a party outside of the mainstream political spectrum.

As in the U.S., disenchantment with traditional political parties has slashed at the very fabric of France. We only hope that that discontent does not tear apart the quintessential French ideals of libert , egalit and fraternit .

More importantly, we hope the malaise does not produce cracks in the foundation of a strong Western partnership at a time when a sturdy alliance between America and Europe is needed more than ever.