An intriguing passage from “Le Pen Calls Parties in France ‘Completely Rotten’ as They Unite to Fend Her Off” in the NYT:
Most of Ms. Le Pen’s rivals have gathered around the effort to defeat her. Only one major candidate has resisted calls to unite against her: Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the firebrand hard-left candidate who came in fourth and who has pointedly refused to support Mr. Macron, saying instead that he would seek the opinion of his supporters through his website. Similarly, traditionalist Roman Catholic organizations that backed Mr. Fillon refused to endorse Mr. Macron on Monday.
Some of Ms. Le Pen’s advisers said, in interviews with French news media on Monday, that they were hoping to lure some of the supporters of the defeated Mr. Mélenchon, whose populist program bore similarities to that of Ms. Le Pen: hostility to the European Union, NATO and the forces of globalization, and a forgiving attitude toward Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
Many of Mr. Mélenchon’s supporters may have little fondness for Ms. Le Pen, but in interviews they expressed equal disdain for the pro-free market Mr. Macron…
