Are the enemies of my enemies really my friends? The far-right Rassemblement National (RN) party does not know where to stand when it comes to American billionaire Elon Musk, an outspoken critic of immigration and "woke-ism," but also a potential threat to French interests. Three RN elected representatives will catch a distant glimpse of him in Washington on Monday, January 20, at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration ceremony, having been invited via their group in the European Parliament.

Yet while the businessman and future member of the Trump administration has proven to be a major media, and potentially financial, supporter of the Italian, German and British far right movements, he has, so far, ignored Marine Le Pen, the RN leader, and Jordan Bardella, the party's president. He has also paid no heed to Eric Ciotti, president of the Le Pen-allied Union des Droites pour la République party, or the far-right Reconquête! party of MEP Sarah Knafo, who has made a few – as yet unsuccessful – indirect appeals to Musk on his social media platform X or at the European Parliament.

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