Like Emmanuel MacronMarine Le Pen was quick to congratulate Donald Trump on Wednesday after his presidential victory over Kamala Harris. “American democracy has spoken loud and clear, and Americans have freely given themselves the president they have chosen,” she said on X Wednesday morning. A sober message, in keeping with the Rassemblement National’s stance throughout the US campaign, a far cry from the support clearly displayed during his victory in 2016 and his losing campaign in 2020.
Normalization vs. Trumpism
From the fight against immigration, to the “fight” against wokism, to economic protectionism, the themes put forward by Donald Trump in recent months nevertheless resemble the ideas defended by the party of Jordan Bardella. But the American businessman’s uncontrollable style and outrages clash with the normalization strategy Marine Le Pen has been advocating for several years. “It would be pointless for the RN to add dédiabolisation to an already complicated period”, assures Jean-Yves Camus, director of the Observatoire des radicalités politiques, echoing the defeat in the legislative elections and the ongoing trial of the movement’s parliamentary assistants.
“For many observers, the Trump of 2024 is more extreme than the Trump of 2016 or 2020. It pleases the pro-lifers (those opposed to abortion) when Marine Le Pen has agreed to the inclusion of theABORTION in the Constitution and defends the Veil law. His attitude is outrageously misogynistic when Marine Le Pen is increasingly capturing the female vote and is paying more attention to its discourse on minorities. Trump’s image in France is too bad to risk damaging the RN’s normalization,” adds the political scientist. The latest polls before the American election showed that a majority of RN voters would have chosen Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. It’s also worth noting that Reconquête, Eric Zemmour’s movement that Marine Le Pen has tried so hard to distance herself from since 2022, has for its part clearly sided with the Republican candidate.
Uncertainty over the war in Ukraine
To justify this lack of support, the RN often refers to the American president’s promises to tighten customs taxes at US borders, which would have a negative impact on French workers. But another element may explain the gazelle-like modesty of Marine Le Pen and her troops: Donald Trump’s uncertain positions on international issues, from the Middle East to the war in Ukraine. “The Republican candidate has been vague on the Russian-Ukrainian conflict… [il a promis de ”régler la guerre en 24 heures”]. Imagine if he went to Moscow tomorrow and somehow dropped Ukraine… We can therefore understand Marine Le Pen’s caution, as she is still struggling to remove the pro-Russian plaster that sticks to her skin”, adds Jean-Yves Camus.
All you need to know about Trump’s victory
This distancing of Donald Trump is rather singular in Europe, where the nationalist and conservative right have clearly supported the American president. “One major difference is that in Italy and Poland, for example, Meloni, Salvini and Orban are in power,” says the specialist. “It’s no wonder that Donald Trump refused to receive Marine Le Pen in 2017. He has no interest or need to address an opposition party,” he says.
Internal joy at the RN
However, internally, the reality is probably less clear-cut than the official instructions suggest. Indeed, some RN elected representatives found it hard to hide their joy on social networks on Wednesday morning. MP Julien Odoul hailed a victory over “the self-righteous elites”, while his colleague Bruno Bilde mocked the “disconnected bourgeois and wokists”. Gard elected representative Nicolas Meizonnet saw “a thirst for freedom, a drive for life”, while Eric Ciotti hailed “a path for the right in France”. The RN ally from Nice filmed himself on Wednesday leaving appear on his desk the Maga (“make american great again”) cap of the American president’s first supporters.
On the same day, the Patriotes pour l’Europe political group, to which the RN belongs in the European Parliament, published a video in which MEPs hail Donald Trump’s victory wearing the famous cap. Jordan Bardella, the group’s president, and the other RN members were conspicuous by their absence, as is often the case.