Last year, the world sighed in relief when populist candidate Marine Le Pen lost the French presidential election to Emmanuel Macron.
But, Le Pen has no intentions of going gently into that good night. According to USA Today, the far-right leader wants to rebrand her political party, National Front, into the National Party. The proposal was presented on Sunday during the party's two-day weekend congress in Lille.
Changing the name of the party—which was co-founded by her father 46 years ago—would help usher it into a new political era, but won't change the fact that it's run by a xenophobic white woman. According to the BBC , the name change is meant to improve the party's image and reputation, especially as future elections loom.
Like Trump, Le Pen's ideology has enabled violence by white supremacists, such as Britain First leaders' recent hate crimes. After a Quebec mosque was attacked in January 2017, the 27-year-old perpetrator "liked" Marine Le Pen's Facebook page along with other anti-immigrant pages. And as Vanity Fair points out, just because she lost an election doesn't mean her toxic beliefs will go away.
Following the 2016 president election, the same white supremacists who supported Trump also praised Le Pen. Despite the party's attempt to center its name, its alt-right rhetoric is as dangerous and insidious as ever.
