Hmm you are from Aussie Zone and are going through quite a bit of trouble to discredit this. This must mean it originated in Australia.

/s

It’s pretty messed up that these days regular headlines read like The Onion headlines

This whole thing reads as though the writer feels Le Pen didn’t really do anything wrong, but is being made an example of for having a different opinion.

I feel like we read a lot of things about far right populists claiming they are being actively prevented from practicing politics due to things they say, but then something comes out about what scumbags they really are.

Pretty much the only thing these populists have to defend themselves is whataboutism. I figured the trias politica would always make sure independent forces could keep these kinds of folks in check. This means

The law should always be applied.

Which begs the question: what happens when these guys do get to power, change the laws to their own liking, somehow get it pushed through…

Copenhagen? When I was there I just got the sense that everyone was in a hurry all the time

I feel like he doesn’t really understand most of what is happening but he just says the first thing that comes to mind when he hears stuff.

This is something happening in Europe as well though, you’ve probably noticed it if you follow Dutch politics. There are these people who just yell out stuff that sounds pretty good but once action has to be taken, they find out it’s never as simple as they’d imagined it to be. The end result is they get nothing done and their disillusioned voters are too stubborn to admit that they were susceptible to populism.