Can MAGA ‘Conquer’ France?

Transatlantic diplomacy has reached a low ebb of late. The American ambassador in Belgium, Bill White, just received a summons from Brussels and a public rebuke from the country’s foreign minister for accusing his hosts of antisemitism in a poorly-spelled X tirade. Charles Kushner, the American representative in France, has now gotten his second démarche from the Quai d’Orsay (both of them linked to his social media activity). These incidents are the latest crashes in our clown-car diplomacy, which in the past 14 months has done grave damage to the West’s alliance structure. 

Recent media coverage, however, would have us believe that the White House’s foreign policy amounts to something more than saber-rattling and rants. According to a vague report in POLITICO Europe, the U.S. State Department is now attempting to cultivate a network of right populist organizations in various European countries. In Paris, this endeavor appears to have taken the form of a brand-new outfit: Western Arc, headed up by Nicolas Conquer, the former spokesman for Republicans Overseas.

The piece claimed Western Arc was on a roster of possible organizations that could be funded to advance the administration’s worldview in France. The article’s author did not confirm that the State Department was planning activities with Western Arc. The brief contained a Brussels dateline, carried a file photo of Conquer, and appears to have relied mostly on Conquer’s assertions to this effect. 

Conquer’s incursion into the policy space appears to have come about recently. According to filings with the French government, his organization was created on December 22, 2025. The required statement of purpose contains numerous departures from grammar and punctuation conventions, omitting accent marks, apostrophes, and commas. The organization’s website names as its address the statue of the Marquis de Lafayette in Paris’ tony Eighth Arrondissement. The place of business registered with the French government is, in fact, a nondescript office building in a mid-market Paris suburb. The contact information for the organization is Conquer’s Gmail address and cell phone number.