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→ France’s north-south political divide
France is still reeling from its snap elections, which in the first round saw the Right-wing Rassemblement National come first only for the Left-wing coalition to then win more seats. That polarisation has been illuminated by a series of geographical heat maps showing a clear divide between the north and the south.
Erratum.
Un bug s’était glissé dans la carte de l’extrême droite. C’est corrigé. pic.twitter.com/JPAQptJg3X
— Nicolas Lambert (@neocartocnrs) July 16, 2024
Areas where more than 40% of the vote went to Right-wing parties are far more likely to be in the north of the country than in the south. This can be attributed in part to the migrant crisis in Calais and the huge influx of migrants into the areas around Paris — though the capital itself remains a liberal outpost in the region.
This was only replicated in the south around Perpignan, Marseille and Nice, and Right-wing parties did poorly in the southern regions of Limousin, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Midi-Pyrénées. At least Marine Le Pen has conquered the Côte d’Azur…
→ Trump and RFK’s hot mic moment
Saturday’s attempted assassination appears to have put Donald Trump in a conciliatory mood. A leaked video of a Sunday call between him and Robert F. Kennedy Jr, initially posted by the independent candidate’s son, yields a few revelations: Trump is still sceptical of childhood vaccines, he wants RFK Jr to join his campaign in some capacity, and behind closed doors Kennedy clearly finds the rival politician annoying.
Unable to get a word in, RFK Jr appears to roll his eyes as the former president recounted his post-shooting call with Joe Biden — who was “very nice, actually” — and explained his concerns with the supposedly horse-sized doses of vaccines administered to babies.
Trump after the assassination attempt discussed how he agrees with RFK Jr. on vaccines:
“I agree with you, man. Something’s wrong with that whole system, and it’s the doctors you find.
Remember I said I want to do small doses. Small doses. When you feed a baby, Bobby, a… pic.twitter.com/gDpYUuNTjQ
— End Tribalism in Politics (@EndTribalism) July 16, 2024
The two met in Milwaukee the day after the call to discuss “national unity”, but the leak is sure to strain any budding relationship between them. It’s unlikely we’ll get another Kennedy in the White House any time soon…
→ MSNBC in disarray over Morning Joe
Joe Biden’s bad summer just keeps getting worse. As if the disastrous debate and the attempted ouster by his own party weren’t enough, the man’s favourite television show might be cancelled. Joe Scarborough, the pro-Biden stalwart who hosts Morning Joe, threatened on live television that he and his co-host would quit their jobs if MSNBC pulled the show again. “The news feed will be us, or they can get somebody else sitting here to host the show,” he said.
Trump broke MSNBC. @JoeNBC says this morning, the day after his bosses didn’t allow him to go on air, that if @MSNBC bumps them from the air again they can find new hosts. pic.twitter.com/8d0Rkuev8X
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 16, 2024
The network had decided not to run the programme on Monday over concerns that a guest might go off the rails about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Apocalyptic anti-Trump rhetoric and Hitler comparisons — the bread and butter of Morning Joe — sit uncomfortably in light of the attempt on the former president’s life. Both candidates have signalled a desire for national unity. Good luck with that one.
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SubscribeSo who leaked the RFK Jr call, and what was their goal?
Article de merde !
There is no particular north-south divide in France; There is, however, a metropolis-countries extreme divide. Here is the party who came first past the post on the first round :
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GPs0B18XgAAAUoJ?format=png&name=4096×4096
F*** self-righteous urbanites. Let them grow their organic food inside the périphérique, and power themselves on locally produced renewable electricity..
Re: Right-wing votes in northern vs. southern France
Depending on how you set the algorithm/grid size for contouring a given data distribution, it is easy to create the impression that the country is largely right wing or not. With literally the same data. Check the size of the so-called “bull’s eyes” (informal term used in contouring) around major cities like Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse etc. This map has little actual value (if any at all).