The Week Evening Review
The Le Pen verdict, discount store closings, and the EU's chief diplomat

 
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

What does the Le Pen verdict mean for French politics?

Marine Le Pen's thrice-unsuccessful presidential runs on a staunch anti-immigration platform have positioned her as one of the elder statesmen in Europe's rightward political lurch for more than a decade. But Le Pen's political fortunes may have run out. A French court convicted her today of embezzling millions in European Parliament funds, sentencing Le Pen to several years of prison and barring her from running for political office for the next five years. Le Pen now finds herself in political exile while the movement she led scrambles to persevere. 

What did the commentators say?
Le Pen's conviction is "setting off a democratic crisis" in France and could "usher in a period of renewed political turmoil" if she chooses to attack the sitting French government," said The New York Times. Already, many of Europe's leading right-wing figures have "quickly rallied to her defense after the decision," including the Kremlin, said CNN. 

Le Pen's punishment is a "declaration of war," said Italian nationalist Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini on X. It's not merely Le Pen herself being punished but "French democracy that's being executed," said Jordan Bardella, the current president of the National Rally Party, on X. Her sentence will "backfire, like the legal attacks against President Trump," said Elon Musk on X.

Le Pen's ineligibility to run for office could lead to a "major internal rift" within her National Rally Party, said Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group, to The Washington Post. Her replacement Bardella may be a "lot less effective in corralling" the party to "remain disciplined and united."

What next?
It could be "18 months to two years before Le Pen gets her appeal hearing," said the BBC. Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended and the other two potentially "served under a form of house arrest," said the Times. Le Pen could now "perform her retaliation" at the Assemblée Nationale, where she sits as an MP in a seat "not immediately threatened" by the ban on future runs for office, said Le Monde. 

 
 
QUOTE OF THE DAY

'No, I couldn't care less, because if the prices on foreign cars go up, they are going to buy American cars.'

Trump on whether he has any concerns about the prospect of car prices rising because of planned tariffs, believing buyers will just choose U.S.-made cars over foreign brands, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press"

 
 
THE EXPLAINER

Discount stores were thriving. How did they stumble?

Discount dollar stores were booming not so long ago, reaching into small towns and urban neighborhoods across the country. But no longer. Dollar Tree last week announced the sale of its Family Dollar subsidiary for a fraction of what the company paid to buy the business a decade ago.

Weren't dollar stores on the rise?
Dollar stores are "thriving in America," said Visual Capitalist in 2019. At the time, e-commerce was "indisputably disrupting" brick-and-mortar retail, which would only accelerate during the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, 11,000 new dollar stores opened between 2007 and 2017, a rate of "roughly 93 new stores a month, or three per day." 

Were there signs of trouble?
In 2020, there had been reports of more than "two-hundred violent incidents involving guns at Family Dollar or Dollar General stores since the start of 2017," said The New Yorker. Some of the violence could be explained by the stores' "ubiquity." By that point, there were more than 16,000 Dollar Generals and nearly 8,000 Family Dollars in the U.S. The stores were said to be "thinly staffed and exist in a state of physical disarray," making the stories vulnerable to crime.

What ultimately caused the downturn?
"Blame Walmart," said CNN. In 2024, big-box retailers like Walmart and Target "lowered prices on some items in an effort to draw inflation-fatigued shoppers." That took a toll on dollar stores. 

While the dollar stores made a number of "strategic mistakes," it has also long been true that Walmart and dollar stores tend to cannibalize each other's sales. As a result, about 600 Family Dollar stores closed in 2024, and Dollar General plans to shut down nearly 100 of its outlets soon.

What's next for consumers?
They may go back online. Competition with dollar stores from Walmart and online discount retailer Temu "continues to intensify," said the Financial Times. The folks who once shopped at dollar stores may also be cutting back overall. Chains like Family Dollar rose on "spending by the poorest urban Americans," but inflation and cuts to pandemic-era aid mean those shoppers are "not doing so well."

 
 

Statistic of the day

$3.6 billion: The amount that Indians spent on their pets in 2024, according to a report from consultancy firm Redseer. The report found this coincided with a massive spike in pet ownership in India. The number of pets in Indian homes increased from 26 million in 2019 to 32 million in 2024. 

 
 
IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Kaja Kallas: chief diplomat shaping EU defense

Former Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is making waves as the European Union's top foreign policy official. At a time of rising tension between the EU and the U.S. and a fortifying bloc of authoritarian states led by Russia, Kallas' role has suddenly taken on even greater importance. Her journey from the obscure leader of a small, embattled democracy to a bulwark against Russian expansionism has placed her front and center in what's now perhaps the global community's most important fault line.

From Estonian parliament to democratic leader
Kallas, 47, was a member of the Estonian parliament as part of the center-right Reform Party between 2011 and 2014 and after a stint in the European Parliament became the Reform Party leader in 2018. When Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas resigned following a corruption scandal in 2021, Kallas put together a coalition to take over as prime minister, becoming the first woman in the country's history to serve in that role.

Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine would "dominate her time in office and has been the making of her global reputation," said The Guardian. Her stance was that Russia is a "revanchist imperial power" and that to capitulate to Russia's threats would be to "give into the fear." 

Hawkish foreign policy chief for an EU in turmoil
By 2023, Kallas was in the running for high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The press "frequently refers to her as 'Europe's new Iron Lady,'" who may be well positioned to "force the EU to adapt and finally exploit its own economic strength and build out its own defense capabilities," said Foreign Affairs.

But the election of President Donald Trump in November unexpectedly boosted the importance of Kallas' post. When Trump sided with Russia's narrative of the conflict in February 2024 and dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House, said The Guardian, it opened a "gaping rift between the U.S. and its traditional allies in Europe over the war."

 
 

Good day 🦈

… for ichthyology. New Zealand's rig sharks make a clicking noise, scientists have discovered. In the first documented case of active sound production by any species of the so-called silent killers, the sharks were recorded making short, sharp clicks of relatively high peak frequencies, according to a study published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.

 
 

Bad day 👨‍🚀

… for aspiring Martians. Sending astronauts to explore Mars could be more challenging than previously believed because of toxic dust, which includes substances like silica, gypsum and various metals. A Mars mission does not have the "luxury of rapid return to Earth for treatment," researchers said in the journal GeoHealth.

 
 
Picture of the day

New beginning

A young boy stands among Muslim worshippers taking part in the Eid al-Fitr morning prayer, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, in Burgess Park, London.
Alishia Abodunde / Getty Images

 
 
Puzzles

Test your general knowledge with The Week's daily crossword, part of our puzzles section, which also includes sudoku and codewords

 
 
The Week recommends

The range of drinking options and styles in the U.S. is astonishing. Whether you want a dive bar with unique cocktails or a refined dining-and-drinking experience that merges Japan and America, these are the places to imbibe this spring.

Good Neighbor, Altadena, California 
Altadena was one of the neighborhoods most affected by the Los Angeles fires in January. And Good Neighbor does not play about its support for the neighborhood. It recently erected a map in front of the bar with dots representing all the buildings affected by the fires. The drinks are from the team behind Everson Royce, and the "expansive menu" has "highballs, tiki punches and frothy drinks shaken with egg white," said The Infatuation.

Kumiko, Chicago
The "epitome of elegance," as The World's 50 Best calls it, Julia Momosé's Kumiko exists at the intersection of American and Japanese bar and food culture. You can pop by for a bite and a cocktail that merges, say, shochu, vermouth and rhubarb, or bless yourself with a multicourse dining-and-drinking tasting menu.

Meteor, Minneapolis
Meteor is "staffed by some of the best bartenders in the city, and you can find most of the other great bartenders in the city ordering a shot and a beer right next to you," said Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. It's the kind of place that sits at the uncommon intersection of dive bar and bar with impeccable drinks and snacks. Order a boilermaker of Hamm's and malort or have a Monkey!Knife!Spritz! with melon, negroni aperitivo and dandelion.

 
 
WORD OF THE DAY

pseudo-monsoon

A seasonal weather pattern that has monsoon-like features but does not fit the definition of a true monsoon, which is typically characterized by a significant reversal of winds and changes in precipitation. A Queensland, Australia, pseudo-monsoon has brought over a year's worth of rain, flooding numerous river and causing "extensive stock losses and widespread damage," said The Guardian. 

 
 

Poll watch

Over half of Americans (52%) say they have a "very" or "somewhat" unfavorable opinion of the Middle Ages, according to a YouGov survey. The poll of 2,230 adults found that 54% describe the period as "violent," and 48% describe it as "dark." Only 3% describe the Middle Ages as "peaceful."

 
 
INSTANT OPINION

Today's best commentary

'This is no way to treat humans' best friend'
Marc Bekoff and Jane Goodall at The Washington Post
Dogs are "often used in painful and deadly tests, and laws to protect them are minimal," say Marc Bekoff and Jane Goodall. Dogs in the "experimentation industry are routinely mutilated" and used in "all sorts of lab experiments: to test drugs, pesticides and medical devices." For "thousands of years, humans have selectively bred dogs to be loyal to us and need our care. To use them in deadly and painful experiments is a profound betrayal of trust."

'It's not just Trump — the EU is also waging an anti-migration crusade'
Nidzara Ahmetasevic and Emina Buzinkic at Al Jazeera
The U.S. has "turned deportations into media spectacles," but while the "world’s attention is focusing on Trump's anti-migration spectacle," the EU is "quietly carrying out its own crackdown," say Nidzara Ahmetasevic and Emina Buzinkic. The EU's policies are "far less visible, yet they are just as ruthless." The EU has a "broader strategy to externalize migration control and fortify its borders" but "also to move away from any responsibility and accountability for violations of human rights."

'Netflix series "Adolescence" left me sad and mad as a mother of boys'
Nicole Russell at USA Today
Netflix's "Adolescence" "promotes a political agenda, and the narrative is built around that," says Nicole Russell. It's a "screed about toxic masculinity with a 13-year-old child at its center." The show "makes boys and men out to be problematic, susceptible to toxicity online and seemingly destined for violence." It "tries to serve as a warning, and the questions it raises are good." But the "answers that the series lands on are where it veers off course."

 
 

Evening Review was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Joel Mathis, Summer Meza, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Anahi Valenzuela, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Illustration by Stephen Kelly / Getty Images; CSA Images / Getty Images; Adam Berry / Getty Images; 5m3photos / Getty Images