Trump effect on French election: Anything is possible

PARIS (AP) — The impossible is now possible, French far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said in celebration after Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency. But the Trump effect may not bring Le Pen the boost she had once expected.

That's in part because Trump has not turned out to be the soul mate Le Pen was counting on. Trump bombed Syria and abandoned support for President Bashar Assad, whom Le Pen backs. He alienated Russia even as Le Pen consolidated her alliance with Vladimir Putin. And Trump's administration has been fraught with internal troubles.

French voters have learned at least one thing from Trump's surprising victory and Britain's surprising vote to leave the European Union: They need to be ready for a surprise. With only six days left before Sunday's first-round vote, polls show the four leading French candidates are so close in popularity that there's no clear front-runner. The top two candidates advance to a May 7 runoff.

Le Pen, campaigning against immigration and Europe's open borders, has a good chance of reaching the runoff but little chance of winning it - at least according to pollsters, who have suffered their own Trump effect after failing to predict his presidency.

https://www.mail.com/int/news/us/5122022-trump-french-election.html#.1258-stage-hero1-1

Well, it wasn't very clever of the French antifa to burn down her HQ to demonstrate how 'tolerant' they are....

There's a point where it doesn't actually matter who wins; she will still have a huge, disgruntled voter base. Battle lines seem to be being drawn all over Europe.