(CNN) On one hand, Donald Trump's praise of France's far right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who appears to have received enough votes in Sunday's election to advance to the May 7 runoff, is not surprising. Le Pen, like Trump, ran a campaign that was anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and traded on white supremacist themes. (It's no coincidence that former Klan leader David Duke has publicly praised both Le Pen and Trump.) On the other hand, you would think Trump would be hesitant to publicly praise a candidate like Le Pen, an avid supporter of Vladimir Putin, particularly given that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said just two weeks ago that US-Russian relations had reached an all time low.Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have praised Marine Le Pen, the pro-Putin French presidential candidateDean Obeidallah: Despite recent drama between Trump and Vladimir Putin, they and Le Pen are natural allies
Le Pen's political party has been supported in part by _ banks. And while the last few weeks have posed challenges to the _-Putin alliance, they are likely not reflective of the larger scale support the two leaders have for each other. Consider this: Throughout the campaign, Trump heaped praise on _, even defending Putin against allegations that he had journalists killed. Consider this: Throughout the campaign, Trump heaped praise on Putin, even defending _ against allegations that he had journalists killed. Now to be clear, Trump has not formally endorsed _. But just a few days before France's presidential election took place, Trump said _ is "the strongest on what's been going on in France," then adding she is "the strongest on borders." _ is more than a little smitten with Trump. _ even declared she would've voted for Trump if given the chance. Le Pen even declared she would've voted for _ if given the chance. And while she supports _, there is little doubt she also holds Putin -- and Russian banks -- in the highest regard. _'s political party has been supported in part by Russian banks. (This alone should have been reason enough for Trump to refuse to praise _.) In 2014, _'s father secured about €2 million in campaign financing with the help of a Russian oligarch for the elections that year. In 2014, Le Pen's father secured about €2 million in campaign financing with the help of a _ oligarch for the elections that year.