April 23 - Could France End Up With a Choice Between a Communist and a Fascist?; The Youth Vote in the French Election; The Impact of the March for Science

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with the first round of presidential elections in France and go to Paris to speak with Richard Robert, the Executive Editor of the Paris Innovation Review who knows some of the candidates personally.  We discuss the peculiar affection that three of the four leading candidates Melenchon, Fillon and Le Pen have for Vladimir Putin and the possibility that France may go back to the 1930’s and end up with a choice between a communist and a fascist in the next round. We also analyze the reasons why the French appear to be less afraid of Russia and the east and more afraid of the south in terms of immigration from the Middle East and Africa.   

Part 2

Then, because the youth vote in key to this election since youth unemployment is at 25%, we speak with Clemence Penard, a 21 year-old law student at the Pantheon-Assas University in Paris who studies criminology, sociology, international law and politics. She joins us to discuss the sophisticated campaign outreach by Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Melenchon with the fascist candidate employing a good ground game and the Communist exhibiting the most tech-savvy use of holograms, YouTube and video games with a Robin Hood theme of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.

Part 3

Then finally we examine the impact of the global demonstrations in yesterday’s March For Science in support of science and in protest of the Trump Administration’s denial of climate change, disregard for facts and budget cuts on research for medicine and for monitoring global warming.  Lawrence Krauss, the director for the Origins Project at Arizona State University and Foundation Professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration, joins us to discuss whether in standing up for science and against junk science, the demonstrations in the nation’s capitol and across the country and around the world will have any impact on the Trump Administration.