Posted on 10/19/2026 8:08:05 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Jean-Luc Mélenchon and the left see an opening to take the presidency next year.
The riots in France turned even uglier on the weekend, spreading across the country and including brazen acts of violence. We’ve explained the underlying fiscal and political woes behind the crisis, but the news this time is the pre-election play by far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Heretofore Mr. Mélenchon, head of the far-left Indomitable France party, had taken a somewhat detached attitude to the protests. But this weekend he participated in protests in Paris. He also blamed police for “unleashing” on protesters, while condemning looting and arson.
The riots are ostensibly about declining public services, but the presidential election next April figures into the protest calculations. Marine Le Pen of the insurgent right National Rally is leading in current presidential polls. Mr. Mélenchon is in a three-way tie with two candidates on the center-left.
The race now is to see who can emerge from the first round of voting to get to the two candidate runoff, probably against Ms. Le Pen. If the riots help Mr. Mélenchon consolidate support on the left, he could be the one. If the riots move more center-right voters away from the centrist candidates and toward Ms. Le Pen, Mr. Mélenchon may figure he has a fighting chance to become the next President in the May runoff.
If that sounds cynical, this is French politics, which hasn’t been this volatile in many years, perhaps not since 1968. President Emmanuel Macron has had his economic reform agenda blocked and is a spent political force. The National Assembly is in gridlock and can’t pass an annual budget as the parties maneuver for next year’s election.
The parties of the right and left see...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
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Nothing "democratic" or "funky" about primitive-Moslem jihadi riots.
Summary: What France’s Riots Mean for the U.S.
In this Wall Street Journal editorial discussion, Dan Henninger and columnist Joe Sternberg argue that France’s unrest reflects a deeper fiscal crisis: an increasingly unaffordable welfare state, excessive government spending, and politicians unwilling to make necessary reforms.
- The protests reflect a fiscal crisis, not primarily immigration. Although President Trump blamed mass migration for the unrest, Sternberg argues that the immediate protests center on school conditions and spending cuts. The underlying problem is France’s worsening public finances, with government debt at roughly 120% of GDP, persistent deficits, and sluggish economic growth.
- France’s welfare state is becoming unsustainable. Henninger argues that decades of expanding pensions, entitlements, and public spending have created obligations that governments can no longer comfortably finance. France reportedly extracts about 51% of private economic resources through government taxation and spending, while rising borrowing costs intensify the pressure to cut expenditures.
- Protests are a way for interest groups to resist spending cuts. As the government faces difficult decisions about which programs to reduce, unions and other groups take to the streets to defend their benefits. The commentators warn that the resulting tensions could produce prolonged civil unrest.
- The political left avoids acknowledging the scale of the problem. Sternberg says left-wing parties and public-sector unions encourage protests while hoping that the European Central Bank might forgive some French government debt. He argues that France has already taxed its economy so heavily that substantial additional revenue is difficult to obtain.
- The political right offers no adequate solution either. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally proposes lowering the retirement age from 62 to 60, which would increase pension costs. Although the party also proposes restricting immigrants’ access to certain benefits, Sternberg argues that the resulting savings would be insufficient to resolve the fiscal crisis. Its goal of reducing government spending to 50% of GDP would likewise fall short, in his assessment.
- The United States has greater flexibility, but faces similar risks. Henninger compares France’s predicament with financially strained U.S. states and cities. Americans can relocate to states with different economic and fiscal policies, whereas residents of France have fewer comparable options within their own country. He warns that similar entitlement and spending pressures exist in the United States.
Central argument: France illustrates what happens when governments promise more benefits than their economies can sustainably support. As taxes and debt reach politically difficult levels, leaders face a choice between reforming spending commitments and allowing fiscal pressures to fuel social conflict. The commentators contend that neither the French left nor right is currently offering reforms sufficient to address the problem.
Why? Islam and lesser EVIL collectives want to destroy civilization wherever they can get away with it.
But, but, it's a mostly-democratic democratic funk.
I think President Trump explains it correctly - and succintly:
“France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”
— President DONALD J. TRUMP
Import Third World
Become Third World
They are celebrating the resurrection and second death of Saint George Floyd with the traditional mostly peaceful protest, arson, and looting.
Textbook use of the Cloward-Pivon strategy
“ this is French politics”
Wow. Ok.
1st piggy - close the gate!
2nd piggy - lock the doors!
3rd piggy - but the wolf is already in the house!
French Politics.
Sadly, not much different here.
Obama/Holder did something similar with BLM - politically organized violence (together with media) get the populace agitated, force them to think about things you want, and prepares them for (usually radical) “solutions” you propose
“In this Wall Street Journal editorial discussion, Dan Henninger and columnist Joe Sternberg argue that France’s unrest reflects a deeper fiscal crisis: an increasingly unaffordable welfare state, excessive government spending, and politicians unwilling to make necessary reforms.”
Umm, isn’t that, ummm, like called Socialism? Isn’t that what is being advocated by the DSA for this country? What’s the matter WSJ can’t bring yourself to just say it. Namely, Socialism’s bill came due in France and nobody can pay it.
I sure would have liked to see the WSJ’s Editorial on the French Revolution:
“France’s unrest reflects a deeper crisis of long term poverty causing certain factions to compete for power and engage in activities that are leaving the French population feeling decapitated.”
They don’t even come close to saying why France is burning. I mean, the proximate causes being Islamism and uncontrolled immigration, but it really comes down to the fact that the French people have absolutely no say in how their country is run. Once they got in the European Union, they gave control over their sovereignty and borders to a globalist government that has no interest in the wellbeing of the people who lived in France for many generations. The only power they have is to elect a figurehead leader who has no power at all.
“. . .this is French politics”
Hey WSJ, is it “French” politics in Italy and the other countries of Europe where this is spreading to.
The media is in an absolute panic. As the Democrat scream “affordability“ and wine about high gas prices, they prescribe as a cure socialism. They argue that it is pure paradise and the solution all our problems.
The media is rooting for them and can give a shit if Satan himself takes over as long as it hurts Trump. All of a sudden, along, comes the utter and sheer collapse of a socialist country. And now they’re going all out to characterize these violent riots as “mostly peaceful“ led by a bunch of school children angry because their cafeteria isn’t serving crêpe Suzette anymore.
If this were true, things might have looked a little less out-of-control, but no one was stopping the looting and burning. Can Leftists actually say something without lying?
(JohnBovenmyer) Much as you were saying on another post, they want to position Jean-Luc Mélenchon to win.
America was also supposed to go down this same path as the UK, Canada, Italy, Germany and France. The Davos elite installed leaders everywhere doing every effort imaginable using USAID and NGOs and so on, to put us into this same position.
To bankrupt and overrun the free West, to flood in chaos and uncertainty using hordes of criminal invaders to homogenize the world populations. To manufacture human gruel worker drones across the West, to weaken the nations and make them submissive, who will all be happy owning nothing and serving the New World Order.
Only the USA is resisting, they are desperate to hamstring President Trump to get us back into alignment to bring us into their WEF digital totalitarian surveillance state and intending to arrive there by 2030.
Foot soldiers of anti-Christ.
Red Green Alliance - here is who these people really are:
The Book of Daniel describes a time when they will attempt to mix Iron with miry clay. To form the feet and toes of the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream which represents a chronological timeline of successive empires that would dominate the world. This is destroyed by a supernatural stone (Jesus) that strikes the feet of Iron and Clay, causing the entire structure to shatter and blow away like dust.
Communists = Iron
Islam = Miry clay
“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” - Daniel 2:43
Also recall, Obama sent Holder to politically connected churches to show them how to be political agitators and still keep their tax free status.
The destruction from that Kenyan is incalculable.
It’s why democrats want open borders make the take over easier.
“France is burning! The immigration of people from an entirely different world, people with hatred in their hearts, has shattered that once great country. Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!”
— President DONALD J. TRUMP
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..
If Trump had not won the ‘24 election, we would be experiencing the same level of unrestrained lawlessness you’re now watching play out in streets of France. That is what the Biden regime was working hard to trigger on a nationwide scale. Careful who you vote for in the midterms!
1st piggy - close the gate!
2nd piggy - lock the doors!
3rd piggy - but the wolf is already in the house!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not piggies, froggies!
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