The return of nationalism

You may recall that this trend was not only predictable, it was, in fact, predicted:

A return of national sovereignty across Europe is no longer coming.  I think it’s here.  This can no longer be stage-managed as a relief valve of the massive discontent at neoliberal policies rammed down Europeans’ throats as it has in the past.

Something far more significant is here.  They can’t cordon off this movement in France and use it to demonize the leadership and, by extension, the people.

It’s jumped borders.  It’s part of the zeitgeist now.

No matter how many times rags like The Guardian, Der Spiegel and Politico call these people ‘far-right’ or ‘alt-right’ and link them to Nazism it doesn’t stop them because the protestors don’t see themselves that way.

And well they shouldn’t because they aren’t.

Macron made numerous mistakes in handling this protests.  But the biggest one was opening up his conversation with the French people with the same, tired insults used in the past to smear them and sow division.

Have they learned nothing in the past three years?

Brexit was not a fluke.

Trump was not a fluke. 

Salvini isn’t a fluke. 

Orban isn’t a fluke.  

France is not a fluke.

These elections represent gut level revulsion to the path the political and economic discourse is on.  And crying Nazi wolf too many times eventually gets you eaten.

These people are sick of the corruption and demand results, not words.  Not campaign speeches, but results.

And if these men don’t deliver quickly they will be on a short leash.  A very short one in Macron’s case.  Because it isn’t like 35{51060298616648a432127aa487592f15c981010bc8b0ce296b7f79f7f5f50574} of France wasn’t willing to turn hard away from the status quo last year and vote for Marine Le Pen.

Macron was sold as the outsider, the reformer, who wasn’t in office a week before he began betraying the people who voted for him.  And now he’s stuck.

The media turned against him quickly because they know he is done.  Their job now will be to prep the narrative to puff up his replacement.

Kicking the can down the road means replacing the old boss with a new boss who is also just another globalist, neoliberal shill.

This is all a good thing, a very good thing. Because if the nationalists fail in restoring sovereignty to their nations and prioritizing their various national interests, that does not mean the globalists will succeed. It means that the ultras and imperialists will come to the fore.