The president is a lonely, tragic figure whose strange personality has inflicted chaos and carnage on French politics.
Lounging with Emmanuel Macron in the lavish stateroom aboard France ’s Air Force One, I asked the French president who he confides in. With whom does he share his deepest feelings when the burden of office weighs him down?
Relying almost entirely on his own counsel, the incredibly unpopular president took a great gamble, one that has thrown the country’s politics into chaos. “He is the great seducer, he wants to seduce everyone,” said another member of the inner circle. “But much of France has a personal, violent hatred for him … he is too young, too handsome and too bright for many French — and it is in our DNA to want to decapitate our leader.”
Each time the presidential jet was preparing for takeoff last year, he would walk up and down the length of the Airbus A330 greeting and chatting with every single member of his delegation, including the wait staff and even the three lowly journalists . He’s a man of interstellar ego who is deeply insecure; a kind, charming and warm person with almost no friends; a retail politician who cannot connect with or relate to the French public.
They despised him because he looked ridiculous when photographed riding pillion on a little scooter with an unflattering motorcycle helmet.And while Macron might not appear ridiculous to a French audience, he does often seem fake and insincere. Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak as they visit the garden of the residence of the Governor of Guangdong, on April 7, 2023. | POOL photo by Jacques Witt/AFP via Getty Images
The most jarring character shift came at a formal ceremony with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Macron stepped onto the stage looking very severe, almost scowling. France’s President Emmanuel Macron and US President Donald Trump pose during a joint press conference in Biarritz, south-west France on August 26, 2019. | Bertrand Guay/AFP via Getty ImagesWith former United States President Donald Trump, his attempt at a charm offensive — complete with military parades and perversely rigorous handshakes — seemed to work at first but ultimately backfired.
The Chinese Communist system has legions of experts who prepare voluminous tactical briefings so Xi can gain advantage in any interaction with foreign governments. They prepare extensive psychological profiles on leaders like Macron so that Xi can know when to flatter, when to threaten and when to cajole.
The well-prepared Xi easily played on Macron’s “strategic narcissism” to extract all sorts of rhetorical concessions, including onThe same character flaws I saw up close in China have led Macron and the French nation to this critical moment.
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