Chapter 3: Orchestrated Distancing

11      “almost cultish”  Russell Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,” New York Times Magazine, April 29, 2011,www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      youngest of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s three daughters  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      became devotees of the party  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      married within the party Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      broke with it when her husband did  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      first two husbands—and her partner  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html; Stéphanie Marteau, “Philippe Olivier, the Man Behind Marine Le Pen’s ‘De-Demonization’ Strategy,” Le Monde, May 1, 2022, last updated May 24, 2022,www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/article/2022/05/01/philippe-olivier-the-man-behind-marine-le-pen-s-de-demonization-strategy_5982133_117.html; and Elizabeth Day, “Interview: Marion Maréchal-Le Pen: The New Face of the French Right,” The Guardian, October 27, 2012,www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/28/marion-marechal-le-pen-france-interview.

11      antisemitic ideas after their divorce in 1987 “Ex-Wife Calls LePen A Raving Anti-Semite,” New York Times, April 12, 1988,nyti.ms/4juS0mc, 3.

11      not speak to her mother for fifteen years  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”  www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

11      released in the United States Planet of the Apes was released in the United States on April 3, 1968. “Planet of the Apes,” Internet Movie Database (IMDb), accessed December 17, 2024,www.imdb.com/title/tt0063442/.

11      Boulle’s 1963 novel Pierre Boulle, La Planète des singes (Paris: René Julliard, 1963). Find the library book atsearch.worldcat.org/title/1576767.

11      came away with different interpretations See, for example, Eric Greene, Planet of the Apes as American Myth: Race, Politics, and Popular Culture (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1998), 2–3. Find the library book at search.worldcat.org/title/48138219.

12     came from a biblical passage  Elian Peltier and Nicholas Kulish, “A Racist Book’s Malign and Lingering Influence,” New York Times, November 22, 2019,www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/books/stephen-miller-camp-saints.html.

12     “Our hypersensitive and totally blind West . . .”

Jean Raspail, The Camp of the Saints, trans. Norman R. Shapiro (Alexandria, VA: Institute for Western Values, Inc., 1982), 317. Find the library book atsearch.worldcat.org/title/1174645.

12     almost certainly read  Jean-Marie Le Pen has openly referred to “Jean Raspail’s famous work” in speeches. Jean Raspail was friends with Jean-Marie and claimed to have known Marine since she was two years old, meaning he had been around the Le Pen family years before he published The Camp of the Saints. Jean-Marie Le Pen quoted in John Sutherland, “Far Right or Far Wrong?” The Guardian, May 23, 2004,www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/may/24/thefarright.immigrationandpublicservices; and Sasha Polakow-Suransky, Go Back to Where You Came From: The Backlash Against Immigration and the Fate of Western Democracy (London, UK: Hurst & Company, 2017), 291. Find the library book atsearch.worldcat.org/title/1040694615?oclcNum=1040694615.

12     praised the novel  Jean-Marc Moura, “Littérature et idéologie de la migration: ‘Le camp des Saints’ de Jean Raspail,” Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales4, no. 3 (1988), 116–117.

12     “an implacable historian of our future”  Jean Cau quoted in Patrice de Méritens, “Jean Raspail: “Today, ‘The Camp of the Saints’ Could be Prosecuted on 87 Grounds," Le Figaro Magazine, February 7, 2011,www.lefigaro.fr/lefigaromagazine/2011/02/05/01006-20110205ARTFIG00621-jean-raspail-aujourd-hui-le-camp-des-saints-pourrait-etre-poursuivi-en-justice-pour-87-motifs.php, via Google Translate.

12     American publisher, Charles Scribner’s Sons “The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail,” Kirkus Reviews, July 28, 1975,  www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/jean-raspail-2/the-camp-of-the-saints/.

12     “The Camp of the Saints as a major event . . .” “The Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspail,”www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/jean-raspail-2/the-camp-of-the-saints/.

12     designated a hate group  “The Social Contract Press,” Extremist Files, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), accessed July 10, 2025,www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/social-contract-press/.

12     “haunting and prophetic vision . . .”  The Social Contract Press quoted in “Racist Book, Camp of the Saints, Gains in Popularity,” SPLC, March 21, 2001,www.splcenter.org/resources/reports/racist-book-camp-saints-gains-popularity/.

12     with his buddy, U.S. President Ronald Reagan  Jérôme Dupuis, “Jean Raspail’s Camp of the Saints: A Racist Bestseller?” L’Express, April 8, 2011,www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/le-camp-des-saints-de-jean-raspail-un-succes-de-librairie-raciste_980039.html, via Google Translate.

12     “I read the book you gave me ”. . . “It impressed me terribly”  Ronald Reagan quoted in Dupuis, “Jean Raspail’s Camp of the Saints,”www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/le-camp-des-saints-de-jean-raspail-un-succes-de-librairie-raciste_980039.html.

12     founded in 1988  Jens Rydgren, From Tax Populism to Ethnic Nationalism: Radical Right-wing Populism in Sweden (New York: Berghahn Books, 2006), 108; and Nigel Walker, Hungary: 2022 General Election, UK House of Commons Library, Research Briefing Number CBP-9519, April 11, 2022,researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9519/CBP-9519.pdf, 7. Visit search.worldcat.org/title/945918408 to find From Tax Populism to Ethnic Nationalismat a local library.

12–13        cited the novel in a 2022 speech Orbán called The Camp of the Saints an “outstanding” book, adding, “I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the spiritual developments underlying the West’s inability to defend itself.” “Speech by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the 31st Bálványos Summer Free University and Student Camp, July 23, 2022,” About Hungary, International Communications Office of the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister,abouthungary.hu/speeches-and-remarks/speech-by-prime-minister-viktor-orban-at-the-31-st-balvanyos-summer-free-university-and-student-camp.

13     “the Pope saying . . .” Stephen Miller to Katie McHugh, September 6, 2015, email, quoted in Michael Edison Hayden, “Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails,” Hatewatch, SPLC, November 12, 2019,www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/stephen-millers-affinity-white-nationalism-revealed-leaked-emails/#link.

13     “Someone should point out . . .”  Miller to McHugh quoted in Hayden, “Stephen Miller’s Affinity for White Nationalism Revealed in Leaked Emails,”www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/stephen-millers-affinity-white-nationalism-revealed-leaked-emails/#link.

13     “‘Camp of the Saints’ Seen Mirrored in Pope’s Message”  Julia Hahn, “‘Camp of The Saints’ Seen Mirrored in Pope’s Message,” Breitbart, September 24, 2015,www.breitbart.com/politics/2015/09/24/camp-saints-seen-mirrored-popes-message/.

13     repeatedly referenced the novel  Paul Blumenthal and JM Rieger, “This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains the World,” HuffPost, March 4, 2017, last updated March 6, 2017,www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-camp-of-the-saints-immigration_n_58b75206e4b0284854b3dc03; and Ian Allen, “Opinion: Inside the World of Racist Science Fiction,” New York Times, July 30, 2018,www.nytimes.com/2018/07/30/opinion/inside-the-world-of-racist-science-fiction.html.

13     “It’s not a migration . . .” “Breitbart News Daily—Dr. Thomas D. Williams—January 19, 2016,” accessed July 10, 2025,soundcloud.com/breitbart/breitbart-news-daily-dr-thomas-d-williams-january-19-2016?in=breitbart/sets/breitbart-news-daily-43, 2:18–2:22; and Blumenthal and Rieger, “This Stunningly Racist French Novel Is How Steve Bannon Explains the World,”www.huffpost.com/entry/steve-bannon-camp-of-the-saints-immigration_n_58b75206e4b0284854b3dc03.

13     urged French people to read . . . “migratory submersion”  Marine Le Pen, Twitter, April 5, 2018, 12:39 p.m.,x.com/MLP_officiel/status/981934318326046720, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/KgJ5t.

13     read . . . when she was eighteen   Dominique Albertini, “On the Bedside Table: One of Marine Le Pen’s Favorite Books Describes a Migration Apocalypse,” Libération, September 16, 2015,www.liberation.fr/france/2015/09/16/le-livre-de-chevet-de-marine-le-pen-decrit-une-apocalypse-migratoire_1383026/.

13     age . . . joined the National Front “Who is Marine Le Pen, and What Does She Propose?” Radio-Canada, April 30, 2017,ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1030543/marine-le-pen-biographie-programme-parcours, via Google Translate.

13     returned to France’s bestseller list Dupuis, “Jean Raspail’s Camp of the Saints,”www.lexpress.fr/culture/livre/le-camp-des-saints-de-jean-raspail-un-succes-de-librairie-raciste_980039.html.

13     elected . . . as their leader “Marine Le Pen ‘Chosen to Lead France’s National Front,’” BBC News, January 15, 2011,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12198370.

13     “Prosperity, influence, and French grandeur . . .”  Marine Le Pen quoted in Eleanor Beardsley, “Le Pen’s Daughter Takes Over National Front Party,” Morning Edition, NPR, February 9, 2011,www.npr.org/2011/02/09/133614364/France-Far-Right-Party.

13     “Politically, barring a few subtleties . . .”  Jean-Marie Le Pen quoted in Kim Willsher, “Jean-Marie Le Pen Hands Reins Over to Daughter,” The Guardian, January 16, 2011,www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/16/marine-le-pen-front-national-leader.

13     “There are of course no tanks . . .”  Marine Le Pen quoted in “Marine Le Pen: Muslims in France ‘Like Nazi Occupation,’” The Telegraph, December 12, 2010,www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8197895/Marine-Le-Pen-Muslims-in-France-like-Nazi-occupation.html.

13–14 secured €9.4 million  Paul Sonne, “A Russian Bank Gave Marine Le Pen’s Party a Loan: Then Weird Things Began Happening.” Washington Post, December 27, 2018,www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-russian-bank-gave-marine-le-pens-party-a-loan-then-weird-things-began-happening/2018/12/27/960c7906-d320-11e8-a275-81c671a50422_story.html.

14     Jean-Luc Schaffhauser  Sonne, “A Russian Bank Gave Marine Le Pen’s Party a Loan: Then Weird Things Began Happening,”www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-russian-bank-gave-marine-le-pens-party-a-loan-then-weird-things-began-happening/2018/12/27/960c7906-d320-11e8-a275-81c671a50422_story.html.

14     “For years, Schaffhauser wanted to build . . .”  Sonne, “A Russian Bank Gave Marine Le Pen’s Party a Loan: Then Weird Things Began Happening,”www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-russian-bank-gave-marine-le-pens-party-a-loan-then-weird-things-began-happening/2018/12/27/960c7906-d320-11e8-a275-81c671a50422_story.html.

14     this time for €27 million Ivo Oliveira, “National Front Seeks Russian Cash for Election Fight,” Politico, February 19, 2016,www.politico.eu/article/le-pen-russia-crimea-putin-money-bank-national-front-seeks-russian-cash-for-election-fight/.

14     €10.7 million loan  “France’s Le Pen Got Loan from Hungarian Bank Close to Orban -Filing,” Reuters, March 10, 2022,www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-le-pen-got-loan-hungarian-bank-close-orban-filing-2022-03-10/.

14     The major shareholders of MKB Bank  “France’s Le Pen Got Loan from Hungarian Bank Close to Orban—Filing,”www.reuters.com/world/europe/frances-le-pen-got-loan-hungarian-bank-close-orban-filing-2022-03-10/.

14     “a detail of history”  Jean-Marie Le Pen quoted in Adam Nossiter, “Jean-Marie Le Pen, Co-Founder of National Front, Is Ousted From French Far-Right Party,” New York Times, August 20, 2015,www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/world/europe/jean-marie-le-pen-france-national-front-party.html.

14     Hitler’s French collaborator, Philippe Pétain Nossiter, “Jean-Marie Le Pen, Co-Founder of National Front, Is Ousted From French Far-Right Party,”www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/world/europe/jean-marie-le-pen-france-national-front-party.html.

14     honorary title of party president  Jamie Coomarasamy, “Marine and Jean-Marie Le Pen Fight over French National Front,” BBC News, May 22, 2015,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32809900.

14     suspended or expelled other members  John Lichfield, “Marine Le Pen Urged to Rebuke Father Over Oslo Massacre Stance,” The Independent, August 1, 2011; “Far-Right Councillor Faces Suspension over Slur on Black Minister,” France 24, September 26, 2014,www.france24.com/en/20140926-far-right-councillor-suspended-over-monkey-slur-black-minister-racism; and “French Far-Right Candidate Wins Key Local By-Election,” France 24, October 14, 2013,www.france24.com/en/20131013-french-far-right-party-wins-local-election-national-front-fn-lopez.

14     secretly recorded Le Pen’s party comrades mingling  “Generation Hate: French Far Right’s Violence and Racism Exposed,” Al Jazeera, December 9, 2018,www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/9/generation-hate-french-far-rights-violence-and-racism-exposed; and David Harrison, “France’s National Rally Links to Violent Far-Right Group Revealed,” Al Jazeera, December 16, 2018,www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/16/frances-national-rally-links-to-violent-far-right-group-revealed/.

14     Identitarians, were filmed  “Generation Hate: French Far Right’s Violence and Racism Exposed,”www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/9/generation-hate-french-far-rights-violence-and-racism-exposed.

14–15 “watchmen on the wall in a zero-sum struggle . . .”  José Pedro   Zúquete, The Identitarians: The Movement Against Globalism and Islam in Europe (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2018), 2–3. Find the library book atsearch.worldcat.org/title/1055656293.

15     great replacement soldiers have organized as  Jason   Wilson, “With Links to the Christchurch Attacker, What Is the Identitarian Movement?” The Guardian, March 27, 2019,www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/28/with-links-to-the-christchurch-attacker-what-is-the-identitarian-movement.

15     “We need the greatest number of people to come to our side . . .”  Christelle Lechevalier quoted in Harrison, “France’s National Rally Links to Violent Far-Right Group Revealed,”www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/16/frances-national-rally-links-to-violent-far-right-group-revealed/.

15     “Then we can do what we want . . .”  Lechevalier quoted in Harrison, “France’s National Rally Links to Violent Far-Right Group Revealed,”www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/16/frances-national-rally-links-to-violent-far-right-group-revealed/.

15     “She doesn’t want us to show ourselves . . .”  Lechevalier quoted in Harrison, “France’s National Rally Links to Violent Far-Right Group Revealed,”www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/16/frances-national-rally-links-to-violent-far-right-group-revealed/.

15     “un-demonization”  See Adam Nossiter, “Le Pen’s Inner Circle Fuels Doubt About Bid to ‘Un-Demonize’ Her Party,” New York Times, April 13, 2017,www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/world/europe/marine-le-pen-national-front-party.html; Sarah Wildman, “Marine Le Pen Is Trying to Win the French Elections with a Subtler Kind of Xenophobia,” Vox, May 6, 2017,www.vox.com/world/2017/4/21/15358708/marine-le-pen-french-elections-far-right-front-national; and Catherine Porter, “France’s Far-Right National Rally Rebranded Itself: Here’s How.” New York Times, June 25, 2024,www.nytimes.com/2024/06/25/world/europe/france-national-rally-rebranding.html.

15     polls had her beating President Nicolas Sarkozy Jon Frosch, “Far-Right's Marine Le Pen Leads in Shock New Poll,” France 24, March 7, 2011,www.france24.com/en/20110307-new-poll-far-right-marine-le-pen-presidential-frontrunner; and Agence France-Presse (AFP) News Agency, “French Far-Right Spooks Rivals in Vote Poll,” YouTube, March 8, 2011,youtu.be/15HTuz7ODOA?si=VBKNsm6NGougp972.

15     fired his diversity minister  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

15     “a failure”  Nicolas Sarkozy quoted in   Tom Heneghan, “Sarkozy Joins Allies Burying Multiculturalism,” Reuters, February 11, 2011,www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/sarkozy-joins-allies-burying-multiculturalism-idUSTRE71A4UP/.

15     backed a law banning full face veils  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

15     organized a “debate on Islam”  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,”www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html.

15     an attack on Islam  Shorto, “Marine Le Pen, France’s (Kinder, Gentler) Extremist,www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/magazine/mag-01LePen-t.html”; and “Sarkozy Sacks ‘Diversity’ Adviser over Islam Row,” France 24, March 11, 2011,www.france24.com/en/20110311-france-islam-secularism-debate-diversity-adviser-dahmane-fired-sarkozy.


15–16 lost to François Hollande International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) Election Guide, “French Presidency Round 1, April 22, 2012,” last updated June 21, 2024, accessed January 15, 2025,www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2232/; and , IFES Election Guide, “French Presidency Round 2,” May 6, 2012, last updated June 21, 2024, accessed January 15, 2025,www.electionguide.org/elections/id/2237/.

16     did not run for reelection  “France Presidency: Francois Hollande Decides Not to Run Again,” BBC News, December 1, 2016,www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38173350.