Right-Wing Leader Le Pen Knocked Out of 2027 French Presidential Race

French court finds Le Pen guilty of fund misuse, imposes political ban

As is customary in the authoritarian-leaning, anti-democratic world of the far right, a self-styled "dear leader" played fast and loose with the rules. This time, the rule of law struck back—knocking him off his perch. American billionaire Elon Musk and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev fumed in unison, venting their unbridled anger at a democratic system that refused to bow to their will.

“After today's court ruling, it seems that only Russian Cossacks can restore freedom to France, like they did on March 31, 1814. Whether it won't be too late for Marine Le Pen is another question,” Dmitry Medvedev, a senior figure in Russia’s authoritarian regime.

“When the radical left can’t win via democratic vote, they abuse the legal system to jail their opponents. This is their standard playbook throughout the world,” Elon Musk, First Among America's Oligarchs.

For right-wing leaders, rules are not constraints—they’re obstacles to be bent or broken.

They break the rules, then attack the media for pointing it out. They weaponize right-wing media and social platforms to smear judges and pressure courts into submission.
Then they sneak into power—and once they're in—they dismantle the media, hollow out the judiciary, and rig the system to keep it.

It’s a playbook that worked wonders in the United States. Now, they’re exporting it to every democracy they can infiltrate. Elon Musk and Russian figures erupted in outrage when a Romanian court disqualified a far-right presidential candidate for violating campaign rules. Now, the same crowd is seething at the French judiciary for daring to hold Marine Le Pen accountable for crimes she was convicted of.

In a rare but not unprecedented move, the Paris Criminal Court ordered Marine Le Pen’s political ban to take immediate effect, even if she appeals. The court convicted Le Pen and 23 others on Monday for misappropriating European Parliament funds—redirecting EU money meant for parliamentary work to pay party staffers.

The group received a mix of fines, suspended prison sentences, and bans from public office. Le Pen intends to appeal and could take her case all the way to the Court of Cassation, France’s highest court. But until a higher court intervenes, the ruling stands: she’s barred from holding office.

So, tell me—why the outrage? Why the fury, when Le Pen still has the legal right to appeal? That alone exposes the true motive behind the global right-wing pile-on against the French judiciary. This isn’t about justice. It’s not even about Le Pen. It’s a message—loud and clear—to the judges in the next courtrooms:

If you don’t bend, if you don’t give us what we want—ignore the rule of law and hand down the verdict we demand—then you will be next.

In the right-wing playbook, there’s only one acceptable verdict in any case involving their leaders: total exoneration. Anything else? It’s “political.”

Yeah, right.

And we’re all seeing, in real time, what happens when courts start bending to this kind of political pressure—just look at the United States.

Once these actors seize power, they don’t stop. They escalate. They crank up the pressure on judges, smear them as partisan, and then use that manufactured outrage to justify remaking the judiciary in their image. Loyalty replaces law. Ideology trumps independence. And justice becomes just another tool of the regime.

GOP lawmakers have filed articles of impeachment to remove judges and others are pushing legislation to bar district judges from issuing national injunctions following public pressure on social media from Trump and Musk to impeach or punish judges.

What GOP lawmakers are trying to do now isn’t far from the playbook Putin used to remake Russia’s judiciary into a pillar of dictatorship.

After taking power in 2000, Putin swiftly moved to seize control of the courts. He stacked them with loyalists, dismantled judicial independence councils, and brought judicial appointments under presidential authority. High-profile prosecutions sent a clear message: rule in line with the Kremlin, or be removed. The courts were transformed into instruments of regime protection and opposition suppression.

Viktor Orbán followed a similar path in Hungary after returning to power in 2010. He rewrote the constitution, lowered the retirement age from 70 to 62 to purge independent judges, and filled the judiciary with loyalists through a newly created National Judicial Office, led by an Orbán ally. He is trying to establish parallel courts for politically sensitive cases—ensuring favorable rulings from hand-picked judges. Like Putin, Orbán didn’t destroy the judiciary in a single blow; he hollowed it out, step by step.

The far-right movement in Europe is still in its early stages. They haven’t yet seized power in key democracies like Romania, France, or Germany. But the strategy is already in motion: attack judges, smear the courts, and delegitimize any ruling they don’t like.

Romania’s judiciary just showed the world what strength looks like. It penalized a rule-breaker, undeterred by the rage of far-right influencers or the threats echoing from Moscow to Silicon Valley.

As for Marine Le Pen—she has every right to appeal. That’s how the rule of law works. But let’s be clear: she has already been convicted, after due process, in a court of law. Every convict, every criminal, every fraudster claims they’re innocent. That’s not enough.

If Le Pen believes the verdict is unjust, the burden is on her legal team to prove that the conviction was flawed—not just politically inconvenient. Until then, the ruling stands.

Justice is not vengeance—it’s accountability.

If Marine Le Pen didn’t break the law, let her show it. If she did, she must face the same consequences as any ordinary citizen. You can’t have one rule for right-wing elites, and another for everyone else.