From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

So you think American politics is a mess.

Well, spare a thought for Western Europe, which is experiencing a political breakdown of its own,

an industrial policy meltdown along the way, and I'm marauding

Russia on its borders, all on the cusp of the Eurosceptic Donald Trump returning to the White

House in the United States. Today on Potomac Watch, the European crisis and what it means for

the United States and the West.

Welcome, I'm Paul Giego, editor of the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal on our daily

podcast, and I'm here with my colleagues Joe Sternberg and Jillian Meltcher, both based

in London and traveling extensively on the continent, wide experience on the continent. So let's start just a little

backdrop. Germany's government tripartite coalition collapsed not long ago. A election is looming.

Britain's budget with the newly elected labor government has been met with cat calls by the politicians

and the people and the markets to some extent. A real winner there.

And the French prime minister this week has resigned after a vote of no confidence in the National

Assembly. Each of these countries is unhappy in its own way. But there is a common underlying

theme of economic trouble and the inability of the

political class to address pressing problems in a way that satisfies voters. So let's dive into

these very big subjects. But Jillian, let's start with France. What's behind the collapse of the

Barnier government? Yeah, so there's an economic problem that is also a

political problem here. And I think to understand what's going on, you really need to go back to

last summer. So you had French people really upset about what they viewed as, you know,

their economic prospects aren't getting better. They're concerned about immigration and crime.

...