As strange as it seems, in many ways, yes. France has several things going against it. It still wants to believe it is a world power and the basis for all civilization. It is not. France has had structural issues on class discrimination, race, and religion for a very, very long time. They have failed to significantly advance those issues. In the US, there are almost no devoted communists, and few socialists or fascists (overall). Those parties play a larger role in France, the communists had 11% in 2012 presidential election. Le Pen's father was totally anti-semitic, but she at least removed that aspect (we can debate if she is serious or just figured concentrating on Muslims was a better strategy until they get power). She got what, 13% of the vote last time? So their political spectrum is far broader, leading to more of what we are starting to see here.
We have enough problems to be sure, and I think our problems are growing faster than France's. But that also means our problems haven't baked in as long so our trajectory still can be changed. Mind you, I don't see it happening but it is still possible. At our core, I believe Hoops and CO are closer in their beliefs than their counterparts on refroidisseur d'eau board (I hope Google translate did that right. LeBeau never said "Water Cooler" in French during any episode of Hogan's Heroes that I saw and that is where all my French and German knowledge comes from).
