French Elites Face a Mamdani Moment of Their Own

The face of France’s “Mamdani moment?”
The face of France’s “Mamdani moment?” Photographer: Benjamin Girette/Bloomberg
Save
Translate

France’s 2027 presidential election is increasingly looking like a shoo-in for the far right, or at least a hard-fought scrape by the center. But what if something closer to a “Mamdani moment” is in store?

Investment banker Matthieu Pigasse last week argued that leftist firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, who, like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, clinched the Gen-Z vote with calls to seize the means of production, has a “head start” in a crowded field of candidates vying to challenge the far-right National Rally’s rise. In an interview on LCI TV, the banker cited “popular anger” against an “exhausted” capitalist system and said he’d vote for the far left over the far right in a runoff between the two, even if he had some differences of opinion with Melenchon.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Act now to stop a flood of climate refugees Extreme heat and rising sea levels could displace millions, and they’ll quickly become our problem Roger Boyes @rogerboyes The Earth is heating up and wildlife is on the move to higher, cooler ground. Deer, rabbits and beavers are moving into the Arctic. Butterflies once common in Mexico are now more likely to be spotted in Canada. And human beings are shifting, too. Climate migration en masse is the big bogeyman that will keep border security at the top of the agenda for decades, and not just for hard-right alarmists. It’s already happening, of course. A breakdown of the nationality of small boat refugees this year shows Afghans, Eritreans, Iranians, Syrians and Sudanese topping the list. All have their political fears, all want to better their lives but most also form the advance guard of the great climate exodus. The Afghans are fleeing the Taliban of course but also the sizzling weather that is causing severe drought and flash flood...
Read more
Image
  Real lessons of Trump’s impetuous action Venezuela may yet fall into chaos but president’s readiness to act contrasts with Britain’s lawyerly approach to governing Daniel Finkelstein @DANNYTHEFINK Within hours of snatching Maduro Donald Trump faced reporters Next image  › Ten minutes after the capture of Nicolás Maduro was announced on social media, the White House correspondent of the New York Times wanted words from the administration for his paper’s rolling news coverage. Fortunately, he knew just who to call. He dialled the president of the United States. Donald Trump answered after only three rings and gave him an interview on the spot. It was 4.30 in the morning. A few hours later the president, looking slightly worse for wear, held a press conference and told a startled collection of correspondents gathered at his Palm Beach social club that he now intended to “run Venezuela”. There were no answers on how he intended to do this or even how he intended to be in a posit...
Read more
Image
  Opinion | Waging War Lawfully Is Crucial to Defending Civilization Dec. 8, 2025 12:13 pm  ET Alec Guinness in "The Bridge on the River Kwai" during its production in Sri Lanka, 1957.   /Associated Press In David Lean’s classic 1957  movie , “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” Alec Guinness plays the punctiliously correct English Col. Nicholson leading his fellow prisoners of war in dutiful observance of a wartime code of honor. His determination that they do as ordered by their Japanese captors and build a bridge that completes a critical section of the Rangoon-to-Singapore railroad appalls his own men but is matched by his insistence that the Japanese also observe the laws of war on prisoner treatment. The camp commandant, Col. Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), is as incredulous as he is furious and erupts when Nicholson lectures him about playing by the rules. “Do not speak to me of rules!” Saito explodes. “This is war! This is not a game of cricket!” Advertisement Lean’s mov...
Read more