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Marine Le Pen hopes to boost standing by meeting Trump

The Local France
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Marine Le Pen hopes to boost standing by meeting Trump
Photo: AFP

France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen wants to meet Donald Trump in a bid to boost her standing internationally and at home, according to reports in the French press.

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Le Pen, an outspoken supporter of Trump, is hoping to have face to face talks with the Republican presidential candidate.

Leader of the far-right, populist National Front party Le Pen is riding a wave of popularity and the latest poll published on Friday morning suggests she will easily make it to the second round of France’s presidential election next May, knocking out current president François Hollande in the process, if he chooses to stand.

While Le Pen is strong on the home front, she wants to build up international support from powerful figures including Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.

Le Parisien newspaper claims Le Pen’s election campaign team are trying to organise a meeting between the two candidates, who both present themselves as anti-system and are staunchly anti-immigration.

Although there is one large obstacle that stands in the way of a get together.  Trump would need to win the US election.

“We want to do this trip after the election of Trump, during the period when he is president elect,” a close aide of Le Pen told Le Parisien.

Le Pen has showed her support for Trump in the past, saying in July that if she was American she would vote “for anyone but Hillary Clinton”, adding that "Clinton is war".

She echoed those thoughts early this month. “In the interests of France it would be anyone but Clinton,” she said.

“If Trump comes across as some kind of alien species, it’s precisely because he is operating in a political system that is completely closed,” she said.

Le Pen is keen on building an international stature that would help boost her image at home and in theory make her more electable. Although whether meeting with the likes of Donald Trump will win her votes back home remains to be seen.

Her entourage is also lining up a meeting with Putin.

“It’s not a question of if she will meet Putin, but when,” said a member of her entourage.

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