Dark Manny

By Zamboni

Many of us were admiring French President Emmanuel Macron last week during the D-Day commemorations. He staged an absolutely brilliant event, complete with surviving veterans, visiting dignitaries, great music, and presentations of the Légion d'Honneur, the highest decoration France can bestow. All in all, a fabulous job.

Macron quickly followed it with a gutsy political decision: He dissolved Parliament and called a snap election for June 30 (with a runoff scheduled for July 7). He did this in the wake of the EU Parliamentary elections, which saw most of Europe holding the line against the far right — except for France and Germany.

The snap elections are big risk on Macron's part. Although his coalition failed to gain a parliamentary majority two years ago, he's betting that France was merely blowing off steam in the EU vote — and will get serious about allowing the anti-Semitic, anti-Ukraine far right any real participation in government going forward.

So far, it looks like Macron made a very informed bet. Candidate slates must be finalized this weekend, and the French left quickly unified, with the Socialists, the Greens, the Communists and the Unbowed agreeing on a platform and a joint-governance agreement. Meanwhile, the right has descended into a cat fight so cartoonish that it resembles the Michigan Republican Party — deals with shady characters, demands for resignations, and one party leader literally barricading himself in his office to avoid being run out of town on a rail. All with less than two weeks to campaign — assuming they can resolve it.

It's always dicey to compare countries' political situations, but we cats think that Macron realized his far-right factions were very Trumpy — in short, that they were wedded to the concept that you either get 100 percent, or nothing. And Macron was willing to wager that if he called a snap election, unlike the left — which is far more practical — the right would be caught short, and end up in ultra-disarray.

In fact, take this a step further: Did Macron discuss this behind the scenes with President Biden during the D-Day observances last week? It would be just the sort of thing that Dark Brandon would be able to provide canny advice on. Prove us wrong. We cats PURR.