I first met Emmanuel Macron in 2013, when he was a wonkish adviser to then-president François Hollande, at a lunch held by the Presidential Press Association.
One quote stands out in my notes from that encounter: “The French elect a monarch, then they want to chop his head off,” Macron said.
Four years later, Macron became the youngest-ever president of the republic, the wunderkind who slayed the dragon of the far-right. Today, he is a visibly older, careworn and failed politician.
Macron’s seventh prime minister in eight years resigned on Monday morning. There is one constant in the chaos and confusion which have followed: visceral rejection of Macron as a person.
The French don’t care that he has shown courage and determination in defying Russian aggression and led the push at the United Nations (UN) for recognition of a Palestinian state.
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