President of the Rassemblement National, Jordan Bardella, in Paris, January 12, 2026. CYRIL BITTON/DIVERGENCE FOR LE MONDE
Cover that red cap which I ought not to see. There is a sense of urgency within France's far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party to erase even the smallest leniency shown toward President Donald Trump since his re-election in November 2024. In a speech on Tuesday, January 20, at the European Parliament, the RN's president, Jordan Bardella, set the new tone for the party: Trump, by coveting Greenland, was imposing "a power struggle," and "giving in would set a serious precedent."
The European Union must "activate its anti-coercion instruments without delay and take targeted measures against American services and exports headed to Europe," said Bardella, while blaming the current situation on "decades of strategic blindness."
Will this second rebuke of Trump – the first came after the party condemned the US military's January 3 abduction of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro – be enough to undo a year of largely overt courtship? The RN is well aware of the "wide-open trap" before it, ahead of the 2027 presidential election, according to Jean-Philippe Tanguy, deputy president of the RN group in the Assemblée Nationale.
