White House

France’s main far right party appears poised to do well in the two-round parliamentary vote.

At first, people in President Joe Biden’s inner circle were startled by French President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble on calling for snap parliamentary elections. | Pool photo by Ludovic Marin

By Eli Stokols and Nahal Toosi

06/29/2024 07:00 AM EDT

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Before President Emmanuel Macron of France went on national television to announce his call for snap parliamentary elections, he privately alerted President Joe Biden, who was wrapping up a five-day trip to France for the D-Day anniversary, according to two people familiar with the private conversation.

At first, people in Biden’s inner circle were merely startled by Macron’s gamble, viewing it as the kind of daring maneuver that has defined Macron’s disruptive political career. Having been trounced by the far right in the European elections, Macron was demanding a rematch with much higher stakes.

But that initial reaction has more recently curdled into puzzlement and dismay, as Washington has begun to accept that Macron is headed for defeat.

“People recognized from the start that the decision to have early elections was a risky one, but what is becoming more clear in the weeks since is that Macron did not have his ducks in a row to give the best possible chance of success for his bold gambit,” said Jeff Rathke, a former U.S. diplomat.

At the moment, Biden and his team aren’t in much of a position to question political gambits. The U.S. president struggled during a Thursday debate against former President Donald Trump — a matchup Biden had pushed to be held earlier in the 2024 campaign in hopes of shaking up the race. The move backfired, and now some Democrats are pondering replacing Biden on the ticket.

Asked about the French election, administration officials are careful with their public comments, going only as far with reporters as to express confusion and downplay the importance of the ballot.

President Joe Biden's aides’ internal discussions about the French votes “have been more........

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