Marine Le Pen could follow Trump

There's an expression in French, "Jamais deux sans trois," or "Never two without three." After Brexit and Trump, will Marine Le Pen be next?

France holds its presidential election next spring, and Le Pen, the leader of the country's far-right National Front party, could well be one of the top two candidates in the first round of voting, which would propel her to the second-round runoff in May 2017. But she hasn't been seriously considered as a candidate who could actually become president.

Until now.

"I think we can have the same surprise in France," said National Front Secretary General Nicolas Bay, speaking Wednesday on French radio.

Bay called Trump's victory a victory of the people who were "betrayed by the elites." He said both Trump and the National Front have the same platform: rejection of multiculturalism, rejection of globalization and free trade, and strengthening national borders.

There are other important similarities: Both Trump and the National Front want to limit or even halt immigration. Both are wary of Muslims. Trump has toyed with the idea of the U.S. weakening its bonds with NATO, or perhaps even leaving. The National Front wants France to leave, too. It would also remove France from the European Union.

"Congratulations to the new president of the United States Donald Trump and to the free American people," Le Pen tweeted, even before Trump had accrued the necessary number of electoral votes.

Her father, Jean Marie Le Pen, who founded their party 44 years ago, also chimed in on Twitter: "Today the United States, tomorrow France."

"The election of Trump is a turning point," says Philippe Moreau Defarges, a political analyst with the French Institute of International Relations. "A taboo has been broken. It's a watershed moment because we have seen that a populist can be elected to high office."

America has a Mexican problem . France has a Muslim problem . Hitler of Germany had a Jewish problem ..............You see where I  am going with this?