Matt Schlapp, one of our favorite Trump apologists and American Conservative Union president is out on the media circuit today defending the speakers selected for CPAC.
After lying to Dana Perino about Dinesh D'Souza: "He was never gonna be part of the program," in spite of the fact that he was indeed listed on the speakers list until yesterday when he decided to trash the young victims of the Parkland mass shooting, they moved to a discussion of radical French nativist and politician Marion LePen, who will also be speaking at CPAC.
Schlapp defended Le Pen, explaining that just because her grandfather had abhorrent positions doesn't mean she does. Except she does, as he goes on to explain after touting her as a "new voice in France." (She is actually an echo of a very old voice)
"She's a voice that resembles a lot of conservative voices here," Schlapp explained.
"She's for traditional marriage. She's pro-life. She doesn't believe that the welfare state solves problems," he continued. "And yes, she wants to make sure when people come immigrate into France, that they want to be French and they want to love the country."
The Washington Post reports that Le Pen's views are quite consistent with other members of her family, actually and also dovetail with the radicals and haters inside the White House right now.
“The multicultural model defended by our elite is a model that doesn't work,” Maréchal-Le Pen told The Post's James McAuley. “This model is at the source of the development of terrorism and radical Islam.”
She described a feeling that French culture is being eroded by immigrants and said that “so many young people have the impression of paying a lot to welcome all of the miserable of the world, when they themselves are already struggling to find a job.”
In short, Maréchal-Le Pen's immigration rhetoric is similar to Trump's — but coarser. Trump at least claims to be a fan of legal immigration and has never explicitly denounced multiculturalism.
These things, which are radical, nativist, themes of white supremacists were then hailed by Schlapp as "themes that we can understand in this country."
Well, some of us understand them, anyway. Around 37 percent, representing the hard-core Trump fans. The rest of us, not so much.
(h/t Media Matters)
