> Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.[18][19][20] The witness tampering charge arose from Kushner's retaliation against William Schulder, his sister Esther's husband, who was cooperating with federal investigators against Kushner.[21] Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranging to record a sexual encounter between the two and send the tape to his sister.
It's also funny that Kushner says this because the RN program is literally the French version of Trump 2.0 economic agenda:
1. If we drop taxes we will grow above deficit = Bessent's "Run it hot".
2. There is billions of dollars of welfare fraud done by illegal = Trump's comments about Minessota/Somalians.
3. Reducing subsidies to public sector and removing "leftist" government agencies = DOGE.
4. Economic protectionism for French companies = Liberation day.
Americans can effectively nationalize TikTok through crony capitalism, but the French must not dare think about charging a 6% digital tax that might cost FAANG CEOs a yacht or two.
At the same time, it is a country very difficult to reform because any changes, even small, immediately trigger riots.
Lastly, at this point, referring to the RN as "far right" is just political FUD. It is the main party of the right and, with perspective, not so different to Chirac's RPR when it won the 1986 general election. But it is also populist and the leading party of the "working class" so might promise a lot of things, even contradictory ones but it's anyone guess what it would really be able to, or willing to, do in power.
That is a weak evasion.
The true hardcore far right is incarnated in Reconquete and the Zemmour/Knafo/Marechal axis.
u_sama•3h ago
This explains the fact that aside from the slopulist and bombastic subjects, they don't have any real plan or serious depth in their policy proposals.
If the traditional parties fixed those issues, and most notably the migration policies, the ECHR extensive read of asylum/immigration rights the whole momentum behind them would disappear. I think Bardella will unironically continue Macron I's economic reforms of liberalizing the market and removing the extreme social protections which in times of abundance are ok, but in times of recession seem to enhance the unemployment and productivity issues even more.
vrganj•2h ago
u_sama•2h ago
This is without all the social issues of putting them in ghettos and pulling up the ladders to their kids to integrate in society.
It works like debt, in the sense that you are taking a band-aid solution and kicking the can 15 years but they have been doing it since the 1980s so the can is here now.
vrganj•2h ago
u_sama•2h ago
There is also a dilution process by which you assimilate or adapt a population and if the % of new people is too high the culture that produced those societies basically disappears.
vrganj•2h ago
The last argument is empirically incorrect. Think of Vienna for example, most of the population there has roots from all over the Austrian Empire. Yet, it's distinctly Austrian.
It's not a given, it takes effort. But it can be done.
mytailorisrich•2h ago
Population cannot grow forever, and for the sake of the planet it may even good if it dropped. So this is something that we'll have to face at one point and the argument that there is not choice but mass immigration is a fallacy pushed to silence dissenting opinions (along with labelling dissenters racist and far-right).
vrganj•2h ago
And yes, if you voice far-right racist opinions, you're a far right racist. Sorry, but at least be honest about it.
AnimalMuppet•1h ago
When you come right down to it, we don't care about Europe because of the scenery. We don't even care about it because it's economically powerful. We care about it because that culture has given more freedom to more people than any other.
vrganj•1h ago