An interesting subplot in American right-wing commentary has been periodic flare-ups of controversy over the proper attitude to take to far-right European political parties. Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party in the Netherlands has featured frequently in these controversies. Yesterday, Glenn Beck took note of Wilders’ rising popularity as an example of the dangers of political extremism in the rise in a time of economic peril and found himself condemned by Pamela Geller and other American Wilders fans:
An important thing to note about this segment is that Beck makes a major factual error, seeming to confuse Dominique de Villepin (former Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister, and intra-party rival of Nicholas Sarkozy for control of the French center-right) with Jean-Marie le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front party. That said, Beck is roughly correct to say that across Europe there’s a trend in favor of parties from the far-left and the far-right and against the mainstream parties.
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