As violent riots and looting rock France, far-right leader Marine Le Pen is seizing the moment.

In the streets, rioters looted shops, torched cars and set fire to buildings.In the Élysée Palace, outgoing French President Emmanuel Macron confronted the damage to both his nation’s cities and his centrist political project, now in disarray just as it should have been reaching its culmination.Amid the chaos, one clear winner sat behind a wide wooden desk beside a pristine French flag, casting herself as the leader-in-waiting of Europe’s third-largest economy.Marine Le Pen was already topping the polls ahead of April’s presidential election, a vote that could mark the ultimate breakthrough for her far-right agenda.

But during an eight-minute video address Sunday, she pointed to the violent unrest across France as living proof that mainstream politics had failed and that her proposed crackdowns on immigration and lawlessness were now essential.“Our country is caught in a vise, even held hostage, between violence and powerlessness,” Le Pen said in a speech delivered ahead of Macron’s own address.She promised “restored authority and security” and that “anyone who causes damage must pay for it.”French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in Paris last year.Julien De Rosa / AFP via GettyThe crisis marks a potential inflection point for Le Pen, France and the far right in Europe as a whole.For years Le Pen has tried to detoxify the image of her National Rally party away from one of racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism, as well as a coziness with the Kremlin.

Now, as she appears on the brink of leading this nuclear-armed European powerhouse, the violence has offered Le Pen a golden opportunity to complete that image overhaul, according to French political insiders and analysts.For SubscribersFOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I trusted you all:’ Judges question Trump administration’s credibilityFOR SUBSCRIBERSShould the Eagles have played Jalen Hurts after he was diagnosed with a blood clot?FOR SUBSCRIBERSBattleground state voters weigh who should ov...