French Exit: Are Marine Le Pen's presidential ambitions over?

In a blow to France’s far-right, Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for office for five years. The leader of the National Rally received a four-year prison sentence, two years of which were suspended, in addition to a €100,000 fine. Accused of embezzling EU funds, her hopes of becoming President in the immediate future have been dashed. But is the ruling an attack on far-right politics or a defence of democracy? And does the defanging of Le Pen and the NR provide a roadmap for other countries dealing with insurgent demagogues?Emily Tamkin and Tom Hamilton discuss all this with Julien Hoez, a political expert and editor of The French Dispatch.Here are the Trike Recommendations from this episode:https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/19/trump-tariffs-trade-farmers-agriculture-economy/https://danieldrezner.substack.com/p/the-exorbitant-price-of-trumps-tariffshttps://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-supreme-court-elon-musk-81f71cdda271827ae281a77072a26badSubscribe below to our contributors' Substacks:ET Write Home by Emily Tamkin (via Emily's Substack you can also listen to an ad-free version of the show)India Inside Out by Rohan VenkatDividing Lines by Tom HamiltonThe Political Tricycle is a Podot podcast.It's presented by Emily Tamkin, Tom Hamilton and Rohan Venkat.Executive Producer: Nick Hilton.Producer: Ewan CameronFor sales and advertising, email [email protected] watch a video version of the show, go to COOLER.NEWS Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.