For Eric Zemmour, comparisons to Donald Trump were inevitable. Zemmour is a high-profile figure in France, known for peddling far-right nationalist messages on television, and when he launched a national campaign, he was immediately labeled by international observes as “the French Trump.”
The title is hardly unreasonable. Zemmour criticizes Muslims, rails against journalists and immigrants, and longs for a bygone era when he believed his country was greater. For Americans, it all sounds rather familiar.
But this week, the connection grew far more direct. Politico reported that the former U.S. president held a 40-minute telephone meeting with Zemmour, during which Trump offered his like-minded ally advice on presidential elections.
“Donald Trump told Eric Zemmour ‘never give in, hold on, be brave, it’s tenacity and endurance that end up paying at the end of a campaign,’” Zemmour’s spokesperson Guillaume Peltier told France 2. Trump also reportedly warned Zemmour against the influence of mainstream media. “The media will think you are brutal, don’t give in,” he said, Peltier told BFMTV.
For now, let’s put aside how odd it is to see Trump offering advice on how to succeed as a national candidate, given that he lost the popular vote twice in two tries.
Instead, let’s take note of Trump’s apparent interest in influencing international politics.
Before exiting the White House, for example, Trump endorsed Polish President Andrzej Duda — four days before Election Day in Poland — despite the restrictions Duda had imposed on his country’s judiciary, media, and civil society. The Republican specifically praised Duda’s “vigilant efforts to uphold the rule of law,” even as Poland faced fierce pushback from the European Commission over officials’ view that Duda was backsliding on adhering to the rule of law.
Last fall, Trump also endorsed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, despite the foreign leader’s authoritarian efforts. Last month, the Republican announced his formal support for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, despite — or perhaps because of — the steps Orban has taken in recent years to undermine democratic institutions in his country. As we discussed at the time, it’s not unheard of to see former American presidents express public support for foreign allies. Barack Obama, for example, carefully endorsed France’s Emmanuel Macron in 2017. Two years later, the Democrat voiced similar support for Canada’s Justin Trudeau. But there’s never been any doubts about Macron and Trudeau supporting democracy. Each of Trump’s international endorsements tell a different kind of story.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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