French political discussion megathread: Yellow Vest Redux

[Zinneke]

Between Gérald Darmamin and Gérard Dépardieu, which sex pest will Macron pick I wonder?

He’s picked a child (Gabriel Attal) instead.

Presumably he was chosen for being a loyalist who won’t overshadow Macron, whilst at the same time being young (34) and gay, so that the rejuvenation optics can be crowbarred in.

Sadly this privately educated establishment stooge is what the powers that be will call renewal. He'll end up at the Tony Blair institute like Marin.

[Zinneke]

Must say that I am a bit disappointed with her there, ngl.

What to expect from a Davos "young leader"

These people are just young hottie actors while the real oligarchs screw us over. Marin and Arden were for the YAAASSS QUEEEEEEEN crowd and Attal is for the aesthetic aspirational gays. It's all prepared.

If Attal's husband Séjourné is humiliated in the European elections though it might be the final act of Macronismo/BFM TV-thought.

[Zinneke]

Attal has his boyfriend Stéphane Séjourné as Foreign Minister. It's very much a sign that Macron doesn't give a sh**t anymore, he just wants his close circle given nice positions. He's going out with a whimper.

[Zinneke]

All rather sad isn't it, but some of us did warn this might happen.

Yep, mea culpa.

Le monde have noted that with Rashida Dati being named Minister of Culture, Macron seems to be at least listening to one adviser, the poisoned dwarf, convicted criminal and Pro-Putin convert, Nicholas Sarkozy.

https://.youtube.com/watch?v=j7b97U7gXw0&pp=ygUXUmFzaGlkYSBkYXRpIHNleHkgc3VzaGk%3D

[Zinneke]

https://twitter.com/datirachida/status/1746929682400911660

I have to hand it to her she's such a caricature of a Parisian bitch and plays her role well lol

[Zinneke]

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240117-natalist-macron-sparks-uproar-revive-france-birth-rate

The president pledged to offer a better parental leave and combat infertility – which he called "the taboo of the century".

The CIDFF, an association that helps women and families, expressed "deep concern."

"The implementation of natalist policies, profoundly contrary to the autonomy of women, constitutes a worrying political and social regression," the association said.

Also Le Pen is happy of course.

Oh wish, anti-natalist organization. Haven't heard about such a thing in recent memory

Since when is allowing adults to make their own choices as individuals, without harming the rest of society , anti-natalist?

[Zinneke]

Le Pen also explicitly said she would never commit to mass deportation or stripping dual nationals of rights. Of course it's worth the paper it's written on but that's also likely to piss off some of her rank and file and the salivating pundit class desperate for a civil war.

[Zinneke]

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20240117-natalist-macron-sparks-uproar-revive-france-birth-rate

The president pledged to offer a better parental leave and combat infertility – which he called "the taboo of the century".

The CIDFF, an association that helps women and families, expressed "deep concern."

"The implementation of natalist policies, profoundly contrary to the autonomy of women, constitutes a worrying political and social regression," the association said.

Also Le Pen is happy of course.

Oh wish, anti-natalist organization. Haven't heard about such a thing in recent memory

Since when is allowing adults to make their own choices as individuals, without harming the rest of society , anti-natalist?

They are directly attacking pro-natalist policies in a quote.

I wonder what are the calculations on their part, bring more migrants? But almost every region on Earth now has below replacement fertility level, and even in Africa fertility is dropping rapidly.

On this subject Macron is trying bring in more migrants from India yes.

But look dude, I'm a believer in public goods as much as anyone, but the whole Elon Musk/far right obsession with fertility is incompatible with the idea that having kids is an individual choice and one shouldn't be punished for said choice or made poorer either.

Anyway in other news Attal is reportedly already unhappy with his successor at Education Amelia Oudea-Castera (who is nicknamed AOC apparently) after she made some clumsy media performances. AOC is only in the job because she's a friend of Brigitte Macron, and disclosed that she sends her kids to private school in literally her first interview.

[Zinneke]

Big blow for Macron's attempts at renewal : he's had to fire his Education Minister already.

[Zinneke]

https://twitter.com/RiboDansLaSauce/status/1755713416885367045

A reason why Attal will inevitably fail. Like Macron he loves to lecture people on the value of work and meritocracy. Unlike Macron, most of his wealth didn't come from work, but from inheritance.

[Zinneke]

Some drama between Bayrou and Macron (and then Bayrou and his own party) after he was cleared of allegations of embezzling funds from his MEP gig. Result is that now Macron is not only on bad terms with Edouard Phillippe's Horizons but also the Modem.

[Zinneke]

Some drama between Bayrou and Macron (and then Bayrou and his own party) after he was cleared of allegations of embezzling funds from his MEP gig. Result is that now Macron is not only on bad terms with Edouard Phillippe's Horizons but also the Modem.

Not surprising. Macron is the typical case of being the teacher's pet with an insufferable sense of entitlement what everybody hates. (I admit, shagging the teacher is not normally part of it).

In this case it was more Bayrou’s ego. Bayrou was tipped to be PM in the early Macron era but then this legal case over misuse of funds, that is similar to the one Le Pen is facing, made him withdraw as a Minister altogether. Fast forward to now and Bayrou is cleared after a lengthy investigation, right as Macron does a reshuffle to shore up the initial Attal I fiasco. It seems Bayrou took issue with someone like Attal being overpromoted. Bayrou also thinks himself as some sort of standard bearer for provincial France despite being a political insider back when Attal was still having his nappies changed, and criticised the lack of people from southern France in particular (in the first Attal government , now rectified) as well as also used the agricultural protests to attack Macron. He also basically dismissed his own Modem members as essentially being careerists by saying that “if they want to take a job they can, but i’ll stand by my values”. That led to him getting into a public argument with other Modem veteran Jean-Louis Bourlanges.

Anyway what all these little things show is that in addition to what you say, the “Center” in France could be fractured along three lines next election, roughly along the lines of Horizons, Renaissance and Modem.

[Zinneke]

Luc Ferry everyone. A former Minister of National Education, most known for being a talking head philosopher type French TV execs love to jack off too, is unable to count Baltic countries, or realise they are all in NATO and the EU or name a single one. A sign of the sheer decay of the public intellectual in France.

 https://twitter.com/WeillClaude/status/1764381729886814335