In Great Britain and France, the right suffers losses but there are lessons to be drawn from both. In the case of France, the political establishment of President Macron worked hand in hand with hard core leftist, socialist, communist, and Islamist to oppose Ms. LePen National Rally. Macron joined with these radicals to frustrate the far right. This required whichever groups finished third, the candidate dropped out and allowing both to consolidate their support against the right. The result was a disaster for France but great for the left as they will now dominate the Assembly and Jean-Luc Melancon is ready to be the new Prime Minister.
A more natural alliance would be the Macron Party working with Le Pen Right alliance to oppose the socialists and Islamist, but he chose to support those who oppose unlimited immigration. John Hinderaker noted, “So the establishment united to block what it considers to be the ultimate horror–a sensible immigration policy. It is revealing, I think, that the French establishment was happy to unite with Communists rather than allow the “far right” to gain power. They certainly don’t want any extremists in the government!” This is the high-water mark for the genuinely conservative parties in France, but it shows that the establishment prefers the policies of the hard left.
Great Britain also moved left but barely. If the Tories did not have to deal with the reform Party, this election would have been closer and maybe, the Tories may have prevailed. The Reform Party kept the Tories from any chance of winning. Mark Steyn observed, “Across the United Kingdom almost every constituency voted for lefties of various stripes – not just victorious Labour lefties, but also Scots nationalist lefties, Irish republican lefties, eco-lefties, Islamo-lefties and, of course, duplicitous pseudo-conservative lefties: you can get it in any colour as long as it’s red. So, if you’re one of those Britons concerned about, say, transformative mass migration or the right to freedom of speech, things are going to spend the next few years getting worse before there is any prospect of course correction… Sir Keir has lost four sitting Labour MPs (and potential Cabinet ministers) to “pro-Gaza independents” – by name, Shockat Adam (in Leicester), Adnan Hussain (in Blackburn), Ayoub Khan (in Perry Barr) and Iqbal Hussain Mohamed (in Dewsbury). … Four “pro-Gaza” MPs doesn’t sound like a lot, but, for purposes of comparison, it’s exactly the same number as Nigel Farage’s Reform party managed to elect.” What you see is radical view sweeping British and Labour have their own problems as they lost seats to independents who are supporters of Hamas and now Labour may find itself in supporting the hard-core Islamists who are bringing antisemitism into their political movement.
Why did Reform refuse to step aside in 2024 when they did in 2019 allowing Boris Johnson to win a massive victory? The reason is simple, Tories promoted lockdowns in the pandemic, net zero policies and did nothing to stem immigration. Nigel Farage decided it was time to form a new conservative movement that profoundly move to restore sound immigration policy and oppose net zero. The lesson in Great Britain is that when conservative don’t follow through on promise, they lose and the lesson in France when the establishment and political center choses to oppose the right in favor of the left, you end up with worse policies.
Much of the establishment in the US, like the French are perfectly willing to allow socialism to triumphs and willing to eliminate our borders with unlimited immigration than put up with a populist version of conservatism. When I read “conservative” never Trumpers just as Bill Kristol, they are merely behaving like Macron, willing to allow the left to triumph because of an irrational hatred of Donald Trump even though what the left has promoted was open border, unlimited immigration, net zero sum, and this administration has been willing to stretch the rule of law by lawfare against their political opposition which the “Never Trumpers” applaud. As Glen Reynolds observed much of the establishment cabal worked tirelessly to elect Joe Biden and our FBI and CIA lied about the Hunter Biden laptop as the media covered it up, just as they covered up Biden’s health issues..
For the GOP, to win and then govern effectively, give the voters what they want beginning with immigration reform that closes the border, reduces the administrative state, and move forward with policies that enhances the middle classes income. Keep your promises and you won’t find yourself in the position of Great Britain conservative and splitting your coalition and allowing the left to win.
For those in the conservative establishment, abandon your hatred of Trump and the MAGA movement but understand the left is far worse, Biden was worse than Trump ever could be and if Biden doesn’t survive does anyone think for one second that Harris or whoever the left puts up will be better?
Francis Menton in his blog Manhattan Contrarian, “This is not at all a close contest. President Biden is actually a huge threat to “our democracy,” and has shown that by his actions in many contexts over his three plus years in office. And I haven’t even gotten to things like his (or his family’s) taking large bribes from the likes of China and Putin-ally Burisma. The constant repetition of the “threat to our democracy” theme only emphasizes how little of substance Biden has to run on.”
The right must unite to win and accept that Trump is not perfect, but he is the horse the right is riding and that the alternative is worse. French and British voters will soon find out that their political establishment betrayed them and in the case of the British voter, it was their conservative establishment that betrayed them not the reform Party. This little aside from Powerline blog shows the immediate results of Labour victory, “Migrants in northern France celebrating a Labour victory have given Sir Keir Starmer a nickname and have vowed to cross the Channel at the “first chance” they get…Speaking to the Telegraph, some of the migrants welcomed a new government and said they would risk crossing the Channel in small boats as soon as weather permitted…Amir, 23, a bean seller from Kurdistan, said migrants had given Sir Keir a nickname that roughly translates as a man who works for refugees or workers.
He said: “We are calling him [Starmer] ‘Party Krekaran’ because we have heard that this guy is really helpful to the refugees.” Amir added that he would make the crossing “as soon as possible” now Sir Keir Starmer is in power.I’m not sure the Brits are going to like that for which they voted.
The Donelson Files 