Nationalist, populist Presidential candidates throughout the world are being persecuted and jailed. The latest is shocking: Marine Le Pen, current front-runner in France if elections were held today, has been sentenced to four years in prison, and banned from electoral politics for five years. Charged with the familiar woolly, obscure charges of “embezzlement”, this was clearly a political hit job arranged to prevent a landslide victory for her in 2027, when she would have faced Macron in the Presidential election. This is a familiar story we’ve seen play out in Romania, Brazil, and even in the United States. Trump was subjected to just such persecution, including attempted assassination, to prevent his victory. While it failed here, this lawfare template is working wonderfully in Europe.
