WHEN WE TALK ABOUT THE ATTACK IN FRANCE WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT
WHAT WILL HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND, WE DO HAVE THE FRENCH ELECTION
WHICH HAVE RECEIVED A LOT OF INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION, NOT A
LOT HERE IN THE U.S. ALTHOUGH WE'VE COVERED IT, YOU HAD DONALD
TRUMP TWEETING THIS IF WE COULD BRING IT UP --
HE WAS ASKED, OR AT LEAST SPICER WAS, WHO HE BACKS IN THIS
ELECTION, AND HE WOULD NOT SAY WHO, WHICH IS NOT TYPICALLY
DONALD TRUMP'S THING, WHICH MAKES ME THINK HE'S UNCERTAIN
ABOUT HOW IT WILL PLAY OUT.
IF HE WAS SURE THAT LE PEN WOULD
WIN IT HE WOULD SAY SO, BECAUSE PHILOSOPHICALLY THEY SHARE QUITE
A BIT.
THERE IS SOME PRECEDENT TO THINK THIS COULD AFFECT THE
ELECTION, WE HAVE WORRIES ABOUT THAT WHEN THERE IS A POSSIBILITY
OF A TERROR ATTACK BEFORE ONE OF OUR ELECTIONS, BUT IT'S
COMPLICATED AND THE POLLING HAS BEEN FAIRLY CONSISTENT FOR THE
PAST FEW MONTHS WHICH HAS LED SOME ANALYSTS HERE TO SAY IT HAS
LESS TO DO WITH PEOPLE AND WHAT THEY BELIEVE IN FRANCE, AND MORE
TO DO WITH MASSIVE HERDING WHERE POLLSTERS MASSAGED THEIR RESULTS
TO MAKE THEM MORE IN LINE WITH SOME OF THE BETTER POLLS, BUT WE
HAVE A LOT OF THE DIFFERENT CANDIDATES HALTING THEIR
CAMPAIGNING AND COMING OUT WITH STATEMENTS ABOUT WHAT NEEDS TO
HAPPEN IN TERMS OF ISIS AND THE THREAT IT POSES.
SOUNDING VERY
SIMILAR, ACTUALLY.
WE NEED TO TAKE THE FIGHT TO ISIS.
LE PEN
SAYING WE NEED TO SHUT DOWN ISLAMIST MOSQUES ACROSS FRANCE
AND ALSO STOP FOREIGN TRAVEL TO SOME EXTENT, STOP THE INFLOW OF
REFUGEES, WHICH I ALWAYS FIND IRONIC, THAT THOSE CALLS GO OUT
EVEN THOUGH THIS IS ONCE AGAIN A FRENCH NATIONAL THAT COMMITTED
THIS -- I LOVE WHEN POLICIES WOULD HAVE NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER
ON THE EVENT THAT TRIGGERED THEM -- BUT WE HAVE LESS THAN 24
HOURS UNTIL THE ACTUAL VOTE, AND THAT WILL HAVE SUCH A STRONG
IMPACT ON THE FUTURE OF FRANCE AND PERHAPS THE FUTURE OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION.
THE IDEA THAT THIS COULD HAPPEN AND I LOVE
THAT THERE COULD BE AN ATTACK LIKE THIS AND WHO BENEFITS?
MAYBE I JUST A LITTLE BIT, AND THE FAR RIGHT IN EUROPE.
IT'S INTERESTING HOW THAT WORKS OUT.
OR NOT.
CERTAINLY RHETORICALLY THEY LOVE IT.
BUT IT'S NOT RHETORIC CHANGING, IT'S A CATALYZING
MOMENT, REINFORCING MAYBE, BUT THEY'VE HAD ENOUGH TIME AND
ENOUGH EVENTS OVER WHICH TO REINFORCE THAT POINT, WHICH
SPEAKS TO WHY LE PEN IS DOING ALL RIGHT.
YOU TALKED ABOUT THE
PRESIDENT NOT ENDORSING ANYONE, BUT PRESIDENT OBAMA, YOU ARE
MEMBER HIM, HE PHONED MACRON -- WHICH MAKES PEOPLE THINK HE'S
SUPPORTING HIM, WHICH I THINK IS A POPULAR THING OVERSEAS,
IT'S STILL A POPULAR THING TO HAVE OBAMA'S SIGNATURE.
THAT'S IMPORTANT.
I WILL PUNCH BACK, BECAUSE THE RIGHT WING INSTANTLY
POLITICIZED THIS.
HERE IN AMERICA IF THERE IS A MASS SHOOTING THEY SAY
DON'T TALK ABOUT POLITICS, LET'S WAIT UNTIL IT'S IRRELEVANT.
WITH GUN CONTROL, OR --
THEN YOU COULD TALK ABOUT GUN CONTROL, BUT THEN NOBODY IS.
SO
IT'S A TRICK.
AND THE MINUTE THERE IS A TERRORIST ATTACK THEY
WILL POLITICIZE IT IMMEDIATELY, YOU HAVE TO ELECT RIGHT-WINGERS
AND WE HAVE TO GET TOUGH ON THESE MUSLIMS AND THEIR MOSQUES,
NOW HAPPENING IN FRANCE, SAME M.O.
USUALLY THE LIBERAL
RESPONSE IS LET'S NOT POLITICIZE.
MY RESPONSE IS IF
YOU VOTE RIGHT WING YOU WILL HELP THE TERRORISTS.
THIS IS
WHAT THEY WANT, WHY DO YOU THINK THEY DID IT BEFORE THE ELECTION?
THEY WANT YOU TO VOTE FOR THE RIGHT-WINGERS WHO WILL THEN
ANTAGONIZE MUSLIMS IN FRANCE, WHO ISIS THINKS MIGHT JOIN THEM
WHETHER IT IS IN FRANCE OR GO AND FIGHT WITH THEM IN SYRIA OR
IRAQ.
IT'S NOT AN ACCIDENT, THEY ARE THRILLED WHEN THE RIGHT WING
WINS.
SO DON'T HELP THE TERRORISTS BY VOTING FOR
RIGHT-WINGERS, BECAUSE WHEN YOU DO IT CONTINUES THE CYCLE OF
VIOLENCE AND I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU, ISIS LOVES THE CYCLE OF
VIOLENCE.
IS ONE OF THOSE POINTS WHERE WE DISAGREE, THAT YOU PREDICTED.
FRANCE HAS BEEN HIT BY TERROR ATTACKS MANY TIMES WHEN THERE
WASN'T AN ELECTION AT STAKE, AND THIS FAR RIGHT POPULIST
NATIONALIST MOVEMENT ISN'T JUST UNIQUE TO FRANCE, IT'S BEEN
HAPPENING ALL OVER EUROPE.
AND TO YOUR POINT EARLIER, IT
DOESN'T NECESSARILY MOVE ELECTIONS.
YOU SAW THE
NETHERLANDS, WHERE YOU HAD WILDERS ON ONE SIDE PUSHING THE
SAME AGENDA LE PEN HAS BEEN PUSHING, AND IT WILL BE
INTERESTING TO SEE IN FRANCE, IT WILL BE FRANCE TURNING OUT TO
SAY WE ARE EITHER WITH THE CENTERLEFT CANDIDATE OR WE ARE
REALLY SCARED AND WANT TO HUNKER DOWN, AND OUR SOCIOECONOMIC
FEARS ARE REAL AND BIG ENOUGH THAT WE WILL GO WITH LE PEN.
TO ADDRESS THAT REAL QUICK, NUMBER ONE OF COURSE THERE HAVE
BEEN ATTACKS THROUGHOUT.
BUT THIS IS THE ONE AS WE TALKED
ABOUT EARLIER THAT IS MOST CONNECTED TO ISIS.
THEY TOOK
RESPONSIBILITY QUICKER, THERE WAS SOME COMMUNICATION AT OF
TIME --
WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT LINK YET.
IT'S NOT A CERTAINTY, BUT IT APPEARS MORE CONNECTED TO
ISIS THAN SOME OTHER ATTACKS.
OR AT THE VERY LEAST THEY WANT PEOPLE TO THINK IT WAS.
THEY ARE POLITICALLY NAœVE TOO BECAUSE THERE WILL BE A
RUNOFF, SO THEY ARE WASTING IT.
AND OSAMA BIN LADEN SAID THE SAME THING, WE WANT YOU TO
ATTACK AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ SO YOU CAN WASTE YOUR TREASURE AND
BLOOD AND BRING THE SOLDIERS FOR US TO KILL, IT MAKES IT EASIER
FOR US.
SOME ON THE RIGHT SAY IF THEY TELL YOU THEY ARE DOING IT
BECAUSE OF ISLAM YOU SHOULD BELIEVE THEM.
WELL, WHEN THEY
SAY WE WANT THE RIGHT-WINGERS TO WIN IN YOUR COUNTRY SO WE CAN
HAVE MORE WAR, YOU SHOULD BELIEVE THEM.
AND THAT'S THINK WHY THIS HAPPENED TODAY, NOT THAT
IT'S THE ONLY REASON.