Now that France’s elections are over, the bien-pensant on both sides of the Atlantic are breathing a sigh of relief. After the first round on June 30, the National Rally party threatened to win a parliamentary plurality, but eventually came in third behind a left-wing coalition and President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renaissance party. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk tweeted: “In Paris enthusiasm, in Moscow disappointment, in Kyiv relief. Enough to be happy in Warsaw.”
Yet for all the happy talk about the center holding and the antifascists winning, the election results are troubling. Antisemitism gained a new respectability in the French political center, and anti-Americanism is ascendant. Europeans loudly question U.S. seriousness and resilience, both fearing abandonment and hoping that American political turmoil will drive Europe to unify and become a great power. American leaders need to think hard about what happens if Europe implodes.