Why the French far right isn’t ecstatic at Trump’s return

PARIS — In 2016, the French far-right standard-bearer Marine Le Pen rushed to congratulate Donald Trump for his election before the race was even called.

This time, Le Pen waited for President Emmanuel Macron to go first.

Le Pen addressed Trump’s win on X shortly after Macron reacted on the social media platform. But while other far-right figureheads across Europe such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders were openly celebrating the victory of an ideological ally on the other side of the Atlantic, Le Pen was surprisingly sober and subdued.

“Americans have freely chosen their president,” Le Pen wrote. “This new political era should contribute to the strengthening of bilateral relations and the pursuit of constructive dialogue and cooperation on the international stage.”

A close Le Pen ally, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, confirmed that the three-time presidential candidate had consciously delivered a subdued reaction. Despite preferring Trump over his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, the ally underlined that Le Pen was worried about how the president-elect’s America First policies and pledge to put tariffs in place could hurt French industrial interests.

“Trump is going to put his own interests first, and we respect that. There will be inconveniences for the EU and France. We remain tempered in our enthusiasm,” the ally said.

Trump’s bombastic and anti-establishment rhetoric also plays against the National Rally’s strategy of working hard to appear more moderate as a way to attract voters turned off by the racist and antisemitic positions of the party’s founder and former leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen.

Domestic politics could also be at play: According to an Elabe poll, 78 percent of respondents in France have a negative perception of the U.S. president-elect — including a majority of National Rally voters.

Still, a sense of vindication and joy could be felt in the reactions of less prominent National Rally officials. “Donald Trump, against the media, journalists, an out-of-touch elite and wokists wins the only vote that counts, the people’s vote,” Le Pen adviser Bruno Bilde posted on X.

The president of the National Rally, 29-year-old Jordan Bardella, offered a somewhat more enthusiastic — albeit also contained — reading of the U.S. election results, applauding Trump’s win after an “extremely tough electoral battle.”

“For us, the French and Europeans, this American election should be a wake-up call. It should be an opportunity to rethink our relationship with power and strategic autonomy,” Bardella posted on X, uncharacteristically backing a concept dear to Macron.

When asked by POLITICO about the U.S. election earlier this year, before President Joe Biden had dropped out of the race, Bardella said that his “heart [leaned] toward Trump” but stressed that he was not a U.S. citizen and only looked to French leaders for inspiration.

During the campaign, Le Pen did not take a position on the race.