By Todd Lassa
(7/8/24) French voters’ reversal in Sunday’s second round of ballots of what looked like an assured takeover of the Assemblée Nationale by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party might have given the Democratic Party a bit of confidence they have enough time to do something about President Biden ahead of their convention in Chicago next month.
The whole thing took place in a month, with French President Emmanuel Macron calling for snap elections on June 9 after far-right parties won European Union elections in France, Italy and Austria, and came in second in Germany and The Netherlands. That sort of timing most certainly is the European way and most certainly is not the American way, though we still have October for surprises.
Le Pen’s nationalist/populist/MAGA-like party led French polls for a month and chalked up a big victory in the first round. But a coalition of moderate-left to far-left parties rallied against National Rally and turned out in huge numbers Sunday.
Nevertheless, the left-wing coalition still must work with other political forces to put together a governing majority, Le Monde(English version) reports. In the second round, Nouveau Front Populaire snagged 182 deputy seats on the 577-seat Assemblée Nationale to 168 seats for Macron’s coalition and just 143 seats for National Rally. A majority is 277 seats.
Back here at home, congressional Democrats are worried about certain loss of a Senate majority and no chance of retaking the House majority on top of any level of shift toward authoritarianism by a Trump victory in November. In a Sunday call with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) that lasted nearly two hours, four Democratic leaders, Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY), Adam Smith (WA), Mark Takano (CA) and Joe Morello (NY) added their names to five House members whom already had called for Biden to step down from the presidential race, Politico reports. Four others “voiced concerns,” according to the report.
Democratic Reps. Lloyd Doggett (TX), Mike Quigley (IL), Raúl Grijalva (AZ), Seth Moulton (MA) and Angie Craig (MN) had already called for the president’s withdrawal (The Hill). Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia will lead a regularly scheduled Tuesday Senate Democratic member's meeting to discuss what to do about Biden, NPR's Morning Edition reports. Obviously, Biden’s spirited, if also telepromptered rallies in Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, over the weekend did nothing to quell House and Senate Democrats’ concerns.
Nor did his Friday interview in Madison, Wisconsin, with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News This Week. Rather than reverse effects of his debate with Donald J. Trump, Biden seemed to borrow what Democrats would say is the former Republican president’s playbook.
Trump’s “I alone can fix it” became “I don’t think anyone is more qualified to be president,” in Biden’s words. And only “the Lord almighty” could force him out Biden said, though not while holding up a Bible (about the same time, Trump disavowed knowledge of The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025/Presidential Transition Project, with its Christian Nationalist undertones).
But it was Biden’s answer to Stephanopoulos’ question of how the president would feel if he lost to Trump this November that might cause his fellow Democrats to wonder how serious he is about 'saving democracy': “I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the good job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”