New polling has French President Emmanuel Macronâs popularity at a six-year low. His current dismal approval rating of 21% is down 12 points from when he called an election in June, and just one point higher than the 20% low recorded during the Gilets Jaunes protests of 2018. To compound the problem, new Prime Minister François Bayrou is also polling terribly at 20% â despite only being appointed last month. The entire Macron regime now has a chronic legitimacy crisis.
Meanwhile, the Presidentâs allies seem intent on stirring up trouble on the international scene, a move which is likely to backfire and cause even more political chaos in France. Last week, Macronâs ally and former European Union commissioner Thierry Breton engaged in a spat with Elon Musk over the latterâs support of the AfD in the upcoming German election. In response to Bretonâs criticisms, Musk promoted a tweet by a Hungarian MEP saying that Breton wanted to âcancelâ the German elections.
There is certainly no love lost between Musk and Breton. The latter has been outspoken about the possibility of banning X in Europe so Musk no doubt sees the former commissioner as a serious threat to his business model, which has a larger subscriber base in Europe than it does in the United States. But considering that Muskâs dispute with Keir Starmerâs government has dominated headlines in Britain, one wonders why Macronâs allies are trying to create similar problems for France.
The French economy, like that of many of its European neighbours, is in a desperate state. It has been hobbling along, barely growing since the third quarter of 2022 â almost three years of stagnation. As with much of the rest of the continent, France has experienced a severe cost-of-living crisis due to the energy sanctions and counter-sanctions associated with the Ukraine war, and electricity prices for end consumers remain elevated relative to their pre-war levels.
On top of this, the French state seems to be moving rapidly toward bankruptcy. Over the past few months there has been a significant political dust-up in the country over the governmentâs economic measures, with the Right-wing Rassemblement National opposing Macronâs attempts at passing an austerity budget. The French Parliament has since had to use emergency powers to allow the government to fund itself.
The opinion polls for the next election do not bode well for Macron and his allies either, with Marine Le Pen by far the most popular presidential candidate. While it is conceivable that the French establishment may be able to cobble together some sort of coalition to ensure that she does not reach the ĂlysĂ©e in 2027, this is looking less and less likely by the day.
All of this raises the question of why Macronâs allies seem intent on picking a fight with Musk and the incoming Trump administration. Part of the calculus is presumably that, after seeing the X owner back the AfD in Germany, they are fearful that he might support Le Pen in France. This is probably an accurate assessment, but if the Macronists go out of their way to start a dispute itâs a safe bet that Musk and the Trump administration will focus even more of their energy on France. Since the Macron government is on the ropes already, it seems unlikely that it would survive that political onslaught.
Join the discussion
Join like minded readers that support our journalism by becoming a paid subscriber
To join the discussion in the comments, become a paid subscriber.
Join like minded readers that support our journalism, read unlimited articles and enjoy other subscriber-only benefits.
SubscribeIt’s a distraction. Get the voters to ignore him before he says something that the elite don’t want the voters to hear or understand
Giving the Zionist pro infant mauling Blinken the order of France medal or whatever itâs called is anti – American?
Is this sounding like a domino effect, where every government seems to be collapsing? Or are these just sensationalized headlines, followed by someone abruptly quitting or resigning? Is it just me, or does it feel like many things are unstable at the momentâespecially in Europe, and its allies? or maybe just weird coincidences?
You’re not wrong but France seems to be an enigma that’s quite a bit different. In most countries the “Right Wing” is more fiscally Conservative. In France it appears the “Right” is basically Socialist Nationalism. (Yes I inverted that to avoid German comparison).
Since we are revisiting all history and stuff perhaps it is time to re-define the right wing….rather than using it like boogeyman Hitler is back on the scene. I dislike words that are just thrown without understanding the context that makes them!
The headline only needed the first four words.
But Macron is immune to political calculations of the normal type. He is a narcissist, utterly convinced of his own brilliance. He always thinks he will win.
Macron can’t even pick a prime minister or win a fight with his rivals in France at the moment. What makes him or anyone think they stand a chance in a conflict with the richest man on the planet and the leader of the most powerful nation in the world? All this does is make the globalist establishment look like sore losers and look anti-democratic, not a good look for voters. I don’t get it.
The narcissistic bubble-dwellers canât cope with the ground moving beneath them – so are just getting desperate.
Macron gets regularly humiliated by the Algerian president, so he plays tough guy by barking at leaders such as Trump, or Putin. This pleases the left intelligentsia, and usually has very little consequences since his barks go unnoticed by anyone except maybe French taxpayers
Maybe Musk will hear our president and decide to bark back. In order to fight against the overarching tech billionaire, Micron can count on the support of 20% of French people, almost exclusively elder than 64 or political apparatchiks.
As French youtuber MaĂźtre Yoda said “N’aies pas peur, ça va bien se passer”.