“Everyone has their moment, it’s often irrational, we can’t anticipate it, but when I see that a moment is being created, I take it.” Emmanuel Macron’s certainty, erected into a political theory. When he talks about his rise, here he is listing this succession of moments, which he obviously knew how to seize, from his arrival at the Ministry of the Economy, then the hammered-out gap with Hollandism, to this first candidacy for the presidency… The dissolution on June 9? A moment to seize, again. Politics, often, is confused with time management.
In recent days, however, the president has appeared out of step. To the battered, haggard members of the government, most of whom are struggling in their constituencies, he said last Wednesday: “What matters most is desire!” People are choking around the table of the Council of Ministers. Magical thinking, some think, complete disconnection, others fume. Does Emmanuel Macron detect the astonishment in the eyes that are staring at him at this moment? “Imagine that victory, at the end of a 21-day campaign, could depend on our desire to win…” For this terrified minister, as for many others, success in an election has a lot to do with anticipation.
“It’s over! We’re not going to administer anything at all anymore!”
There are a few today who remember their discussions a year earlier with Stéphane Séjourné, the party’s president, or with people close to the head of state. “Stéphane told me face to face: there is a dissolution option,” swears this minister. So why not have prepared for this hypothesis? Bitterness creeps in and wins over these members of the government who, on Monday, July 1, in the Murat lounge, listen to Emmanuel Macron declaim: “This is a moment of truth for the country. I never shirk my responsibilities. This is not a country that we can administer as if nothing had happened, we are going to have to change our methods.” Did the president understand? “It’s over! We’re not going to administer anything at all anymore!” exclaims a minister who can’t believe so much “denial”: “The president kept saying ‘we have to fight, we have to win’, but it’s too late!” Macronism wanted to be one at the same time, it becomes a desynchronization.
And what about these images, emerging in the twilight of the first round? Him, strolling in Le Touquet, leather jacket, aviator glasses, black cap and scarf. Strange outfit for a president, even on Sunday. “He has always been provocative, but now, I don’t understand…” The sorrow of a lifelong companion. The time is no longer for relaxation. “You have to know how to behave,” continues the same person. Serious yesterday, serious often, too serious in the podcast recorded last week which gave rise to mockery from Yann Barthès, Emmanuel Macron suddenly seems light. Does he feel liberated? “He made the choice of dissolution for himself, not for the country, not for us, but for himself, believes a minister. He will be the president who will have given the French people a voice.” While the latter had just voted, Nicolas Sarkozy noted. When the at the same time becomes a setback.