Despite a poll by BFM TV showing 57 per cent of the French public did not believe the court was biased, Le Pen received the strong backing this week of right-wing populists, illiberal democrats and authoritarians across Europe. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán declared (in French), “I am Marine”; Italy’s deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini said “we are not intimidated”; and a spokesperson for Russia’s Vladimir Putin said the verdict was a “violation of democratic norms”.
That last phrase highlit.
Lmfbo! Well, he’d know I guess.
Jonathan Pearlman on Marine Le Pen’s conviction, in the #SaturdayPaper