A defection reveals Le Pen's Achilles heel: she looks too mainstream

Jerome Riviere, new member France's far-right party "Reconquete!", poses at the campaign headquarters of Eric Zemmour, candidate for the 2022 French presidential election, in Paris, France, January 26, 2022. Picture taken January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

PARIS (Reuters) - Three months before France's presidential vote, Jerome Riviere made a blunt calculation: Marine Le Pen, long the leader of the traditional far-right, had lost her anti-establishment edge and veered too close to the mainstream to win the election.

He defected and rallied behind the campaign of Eric Zemmour, the writer-turned-presidential challenger whose nationalist agenda echoes the one-time aspiration of former U.S. President Donald Trump to "Make America Great Again".