WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.259 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are 00:00:02.259 --> 00:00:05.559 taking on a figure who has been, well, at the 00:00:05.559 --> 00:00:08.259 center of global political drama for nearly a 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:12.039 decade now, Emmanuel Macron. He really is a political 00:00:12.039 --> 00:00:15.080 anomaly, the disruptor, the, you know, the youthful 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:17.820 leader who arrived like a meteor. And whose tenure 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:20.760 has been defined by just constant, exhausting 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:24.260 crises. It's a truly meteoric. political trajectory. 00:00:24.620 --> 00:00:28.120 I mean, he was born on December 21st, 1977. He's 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:30.300 been president of France and also co -prince 00:00:30.300 --> 00:00:32.899 of Andorra since 2017. And his place in history 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:34.979 was sealed from day one, really. When he was 00:00:34.979 --> 00:00:37.500 first elected, he was just 39 years old. That 00:00:37.500 --> 00:00:39.240 made him the youngest French president ever. 00:00:39.380 --> 00:00:41.759 And get this, the youngest head of state since 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.759 Napoleon. That comparison alone, Napoleon, it 00:00:44.759 --> 00:00:46.719 just sets the stage for high drama, ambition 00:00:46.719 --> 00:00:49.520 and, well, ultimately a lot of resistance. Exactly. 00:00:49.679 --> 00:00:52.130 And our mission here. for you, the listener, 00:00:52.250 --> 00:00:54.490 is to really unpack this complex figure. We're 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:57.329 using a whole stack of sources, articles, biographical 00:00:57.329 --> 00:00:59.950 notes, political timelines. Right. We want to 00:00:59.950 --> 00:01:02.890 go from his pretty unusual personal story and 00:01:02.890 --> 00:01:05.250 that pivot into high finance all the way through 00:01:05.250 --> 00:01:08.209 to the constant crises and, I mean, the revolving 00:01:08.209 --> 00:01:10.510 door of prime ministers that's defined his second 00:01:10.510 --> 00:01:13.609 term, especially as we look at the gridlock of 00:01:13.609 --> 00:01:16.989 late 2025. It's not just a timeline. It's an 00:01:16.989 --> 00:01:19.989 effort to understand the forces at play, you 00:01:19.989 --> 00:01:22.840 know, from International cyber attacks hitting 00:01:22.840 --> 00:01:26.060 his campaign to huge domestic unrest and these 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:29.299 high stakes global power struggles. All of it 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:32.099 has shaped the tenure of, I think it's fair to 00:01:32.099 --> 00:01:35.719 say, France's most dynamic modern leader. OK, 00:01:35.780 --> 00:01:37.359 let's unpack this journey. And we have to start 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:38.879 at the beginning because to get the political 00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:41.780 macro on, you first have to understand the well, 00:01:41.819 --> 00:01:44.060 the academic and personal rigor that shaped him. 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:46.459 When you look at Macron's early life, what's 00:01:46.459 --> 00:01:48.959 striking is that it's not a path built for retail 00:01:48.959 --> 00:01:51.560 politics. It seems designed for elite administration, 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:54.040 for pure intellectual firepower. Far from it. 00:01:54.060 --> 00:01:55.780 He was born in Amiens. His parents were both 00:01:55.780 --> 00:01:58.180 highly educated medical professionals. His mother 00:01:58.180 --> 00:02:00.400 a physician, his father a professor of neurology. 00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:03.079 So very academic household. Very. They divorced 00:02:03.079 --> 00:02:06.060 later. in 2010 and while the family was secular 00:02:06.060 --> 00:02:08.560 he made this pretty independent choice to be 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:11.020 baptized catholic at age 12. that's interesting 00:02:11.020 --> 00:02:14.379 it is it's maybe a subtle hint of his later ability 00:02:14.379 --> 00:02:17.360 to you know cross traditional divides though 00:02:17.360 --> 00:02:20.319 today he identifies as agnostic that intellectual 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.800 blend seems so crucial he didn't just go to good 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:27.460 schools he went through the absolute uh crucible 00:02:27.460 --> 00:02:30.000 of french elite preparation precisely his education 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:32.889 was a master class in relentless selection He 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:35.129 started at the Jesuit Lycée La Providence in 00:02:35.129 --> 00:02:37.490 Amiens, which is where his most famous personal 00:02:37.490 --> 00:02:39.870 story began. We'll get to that. And then he was 00:02:39.870 --> 00:02:42.009 sent to finish at the ultra elite Lycée Henri 00:02:42.009 --> 00:02:45.069 IV in Paris. He graduated with the highest honors 00:02:45.069 --> 00:02:48.409 back as Méchant Trébien. And at the same time, 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:50.669 he got a diploma in piano studies from the Amiens 00:02:50.669 --> 00:02:52.969 Conservatory. It just tells you this is someone 00:02:52.969 --> 00:02:55.250 who can handle complexity and discipline incredibly 00:02:55.250 --> 00:02:58.430 well. It does. And crucially, his early career 00:02:58.430 --> 00:03:00.930 wasn't even in policy or economics. It was in 00:03:00.930 --> 00:03:04.189 philosophy. That foundation, it has to inform 00:03:04.189 --> 00:03:07.229 his later approach to power. It absolutely has 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:10.050 to. He was deeply steeped in high political theory. 00:03:10.370 --> 00:03:13.710 He studied at Paris -Caix -Nanterre, got a DEA 00:03:13.710 --> 00:03:15.990 degree, which is a master level qualification. 00:03:17.129 --> 00:03:20.740 And his thesis, it wasn't light reading. What 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:23.840 was it on? Machiavelli and Hegel. These are thinkers 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.479 who deal directly with the harsh realities of 00:03:26.479 --> 00:03:30.240 power, of statecraft, the role of great men in 00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.659 history. Machiavelli and Hegel. Is that the blueprint 00:03:32.659 --> 00:03:34.780 for the Jupiterian president he later talked 00:03:34.780 --> 00:03:37.520 about? That synthesis is absolutely key. And 00:03:37.520 --> 00:03:39.780 even more critically, around 1999, he worked 00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:42.080 as an editorial assistant for the revered philosopher 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.590 Paul Ricoeur. Wow. Yeah. And this wasn't some 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:48.349 quick internship. He worked closely on Ricoeur's 00:03:48.349 --> 00:03:50.569 final major work. So he was just absorbing these 00:03:50.569 --> 00:03:53.550 dense theories on power, memory, and the state. 00:03:53.629 --> 00:03:55.409 It gave him this incredibly deep theoretical 00:03:55.409 --> 00:03:57.289 foundation for governance. But, you know, to 00:03:57.289 --> 00:03:59.330 actually govern France, theory isn't enough. 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:01.610 You need the administrative credentials. And 00:04:01.610 --> 00:04:03.650 he got them. After philosophy, he went straight 00:04:03.650 --> 00:04:05.909 to the administrative track, a master's in public 00:04:05.909 --> 00:04:08.229 affairs at Sciences Po. And then he graduated 00:04:08.229 --> 00:04:10.629 from the notoriously selective École Nationale 00:04:10.629 --> 00:04:13.659 d 'Administration. ENA. The pipeline for France's 00:04:13.659 --> 00:04:16.360 highest civil servants. Exactly. His training 00:04:16.360 --> 00:04:18.459 there was thorough. It even included time at 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:21.259 the French embassy in Nigeria. So by the end, 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:23.680 he was fully indoctrinated into the elite French 00:04:23.680 --> 00:04:26.720 administrative machine, ready for any high office. 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:29.399 But the defining story, the personal narrative 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.560 that really explains his, I think, his singular 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:36.180 determination. It remains his relationship with 00:04:36.180 --> 00:04:39.100 Brigitte Troneau, which started way back in Emyo. 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:41.360 It's the origin story of his adult life, and 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:44.019 it is extraordinary. It began when he was a 15 00:04:44.019 --> 00:04:46.959 -year -old student at that Jesuit school. Brigitte 00:04:46.959 --> 00:04:50.019 was his drama teacher. And she was married with 00:04:50.019 --> 00:04:52.899 three children and 25 years older than him. Right. 00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:55.889 They met during a theater workshop, and the bond 00:04:55.889 --> 00:04:59.110 they formed was, by all accounts, immediate and 00:04:59.110 --> 00:05:01.470 incredibly powerful. The sources describe his 00:05:01.470 --> 00:05:04.050 parents being, well, profoundly alarmed. They 00:05:04.050 --> 00:05:06.290 were. They intervened and essentially forced 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.949 his transfer to Paris to finish school, hoping 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:10.649 the distance would break the connection. But 00:05:10.649 --> 00:05:13.430 it did. It did the opposite. It solidified his 00:05:13.430 --> 00:05:16.149 commitment. He apparently told Brigitte he would 00:05:16.149 --> 00:05:18.519 return and marry her. That parental intervention, 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:22.220 it sounds less like a typical teenage drama and 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:25.060 more like a pivotal moment. It proved his determination. 00:05:25.579 --> 00:05:29.100 I agree. It shows this unusual focus, a willingness 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:32.500 to defy entrenched societal norms. We see that 00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:34.560 again and again in his political career. So they 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.000 reconnected later. They reunited after he graduated 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:40.199 from ENA and they married in 2007. He doesn't 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:42.300 have biological children, but she has three adult 00:05:42.300 --> 00:05:45.240 children and seven grandchildren. And she was 00:05:45.240 --> 00:05:48.139 crucial to his rise. Allies say she helped him 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:50.439 sharpen his public image, his communication style, 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.000 essential skills for the disruptor he became. 00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:55.620 So he's trained for the civil service, but then 00:05:55.620 --> 00:05:58.879 he takes this sharp pivot, high finance, a move 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:01.720 that really provided the capital for his political 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.519 independence. Yep. After ENA in 2004, he started 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:07.339 as an inspector in the General Inspectorate of 00:06:07.339 --> 00:06:10.879 Finance. But four years later, in 2008, he chose 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.959 to break the mold. He paid $50 ,000 to buy himself 00:06:13.959 --> 00:06:16.079 out of his government contract. That's a huge 00:06:16.079 --> 00:06:19.300 step. It's a clear, highly unusual signal that 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:20.980 he was leaving the state sector, at least for 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:22.779 a while, for the private world. And he went straight. 00:06:22.860 --> 00:06:24.680 to the biggest leagues. Yeah. Investment banking. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:27.660 Rothschild and C. Bonk. And he was a rocket ship 00:06:27.660 --> 00:06:31.180 there. By 2010, he's a partner. And here's where 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:33.459 it gets really interesting. The financial peak 00:06:33.459 --> 00:06:36.939 for him was handling a massive deal. Nestle's 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:39.800 acquisition of Pfizer's infant nutrition division. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:42.720 What was the scale of that deal? It was valued 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:46.079 at a colossal euro billion. Managing something 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:48.199 that complex, especially with the world still 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:51.300 recovering from the 2008 crisis, it just cemented 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:53.699 his reputation as a high roller. It instantly 00:06:53.699 --> 00:06:56.060 made him a millionaire. Granting him total financial 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:58.720 independence. Exactly. We need to quantify that 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:00.959 because it became such a potent political weapon 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:02.879 for his opponents later. Right. What were the 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:05.699 numbers? Official records show he earned $2 million 00:07:05.699 --> 00:07:09.079 between late 2010 and mid -2012 and nearly $3 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:12.500 million between 2009 and 2013. That financial 00:07:12.500 --> 00:07:15.160 independence is fundamental. It is. He didn't 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:16.899 need traditional party funding. He could launch 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:19.920 his movement on his own terms. But it also created 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:22.620 the narrative that haunted his presidency, the 00:07:22.620 --> 00:07:24.660 criticism that he was the president of the rich, 00:07:24.759 --> 00:07:28.100 a man who understood finance maybe better than 00:07:28.100 --> 00:07:30.480 the lives of ordinary people. So now we have 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.379 the philosopher turned millionaire banker ready 00:07:33.379 --> 00:07:36.300 to reenter the political arena. Let's trace his 00:07:36.300 --> 00:07:39.139 path back in, starting with his initial kind 00:07:39.139 --> 00:07:42.040 of temporary. connection to the traditional political 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:45.860 world. His early political DNA was definitely 00:07:45.860 --> 00:07:48.660 on the left, but always the reforming wing. He 00:07:48.660 --> 00:07:50.240 was a member of the Socialist Party, the PS, 00:07:50.420 --> 00:07:53.800 from 2006 to 2009. And he strongly supported 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:57.040 Francois Hollande in the 2011 primary. And Hollande 00:07:57.040 --> 00:07:59.519 rewarded that loyalty, bringing him right into 00:07:59.519 --> 00:08:01.660 the core of the executive power structure. Into 00:08:01.660 --> 00:08:04.980 the Elysee Palace, yes. In 2012, he was appointed 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:07.160 deputy secretary general, a very senior advisory 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:10.079 role. But the ideological friction started almost 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.279 immediately. Because he was pushing for market 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.540 -oriented reforms. Exactly. And that put him 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:16.379 at odds with the Socialist Party's deeply held 00:08:16.379 --> 00:08:18.540 traditions. What were the specific points of 00:08:18.540 --> 00:08:20.720 contention? Can you show us how radical he was 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:23.399 within that structure? Sure. Two crucial examples 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.339 from 2012. First, he proposed temporarily increasing 00:08:27.339 --> 00:08:30.639 the symbolic 35 -hour workweek to 37 hours. A 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:34.259 huge deal in France. Huge. Second, he pushed 00:08:34.259 --> 00:08:36.340 back against planned tax hikes on the highest 00:08:36.340 --> 00:08:38.659 earners, arguing it would drive capital out of 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:41.340 the country. And later, he was against regulating 00:08:41.340 --> 00:08:44.279 CEO salaries. He was basically a classical liberal 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:47.299 operating inside a socialist government. Sounds 00:08:47.299 --> 00:08:49.799 like an impossible position to sustain. It was. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.600 The frustration mounted. He felt he had little 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:56.720 real influence. In June 2014, he resigned. He 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.379 was disappointed he didn't get a post in the 00:08:58.379 --> 00:09:00.490 first Vales government. But the break lasted 00:09:00.490 --> 00:09:03.549 barely two months, a very rapid political rehabilitation. 00:09:04.090 --> 00:09:07.289 Two months. In August 2014, Haaland appointed 00:09:07.289 --> 00:09:09.710 him to replace the staunchly left -wing Arnaud 00:09:09.710 --> 00:09:12.850 Monteberg. The contrast was instant. Macron got 00:09:12.850 --> 00:09:14.730 the nickname anti -Monteberg. Because he was 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:17.970 pro -EU and liberal. Exactly. At 36, he was the 00:09:17.970 --> 00:09:20.690 youngest economics minister since 1962, and he 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:22.309 immediately stood out. And the centerpiece of 00:09:22.309 --> 00:09:24.169 his time there was the Macron Law. You called 00:09:24.169 --> 00:09:26.450 it a grab bag. What did it actually do? The Macron 00:09:26.450 --> 00:09:29.870 Law. from April 2015, was designed to unlock 00:09:29.870 --> 00:09:33.269 the economy. It was a package deal. It liberalized 00:09:33.269 --> 00:09:35.850 rules on Sunday and night work, which unions 00:09:35.850 --> 00:09:38.570 hated. It eased restrictions on coach travel, 00:09:38.750 --> 00:09:41.830 which sparked competition. It reformed regulated 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:44.070 professions like barristers and auctioneers. 00:09:44.289 --> 00:09:47.129 It was an unmistakable declaration of intent. 00:09:47.450 --> 00:09:49.309 It was. He was going to modernize the French 00:09:49.309 --> 00:09:50.909 economy, whether the political establishment 00:09:50.909 --> 00:09:54.009 liked it or not. And getting it passed, well, 00:09:54.070 --> 00:09:55.970 that created the template for all the political 00:09:55.970 --> 00:09:58.309 drama that would follow him, relying on special 00:09:58.309 --> 00:10:01.190 constitutional tools. Exactly. Because of deep 00:10:01.190 --> 00:10:03.129 division. within his own socialist majority, 00:10:03.570 --> 00:10:06.269 Prime Minister Manuel Valls knew it wouldn't 00:10:06.269 --> 00:10:09.049 pass a normal vote. So he used the special Article 00:10:09.049 --> 00:10:12.750 49 .3 procedure. Let's define 49 .3 clearly for 00:10:12.750 --> 00:10:14.330 the listener because it becomes his signature 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:16.889 tool later on. Okay, so in simple terms, Article 00:10:16.889 --> 00:10:20.009 49 .3 lets the prime minister adopt a law without 00:10:20.009 --> 00:10:23.250 a full vote. But, and this is crucial, it automatically 00:10:23.250 --> 00:10:26.269 triggers a motion of no confidence. So the government 00:10:26.269 --> 00:10:28.610 is basically staking its entire survival on the 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:31.649 bill. Yes. If the no -confidence motion fails, 00:10:31.850 --> 00:10:34.830 the bill passes. If the motion passes, the government 00:10:34.830 --> 00:10:37.549 falls and the bill dies. It's the political nuclear 00:10:37.549 --> 00:10:40.710 option. You bypass consensus to enforce executive 00:10:40.710 --> 00:10:44.230 will. It worked then, and it set him on a collision 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:46.669 course with his own party, which led him to found 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:50.190 his own movement. On April 6, 2016, in his hometown 00:10:50.190 --> 00:10:53.649 of Amiens, he founded En Marche. On the move. 00:10:53.909 --> 00:10:57.289 An independent, social liberal, fiercely pro 00:10:57.289 --> 00:10:59.769 -European movement designed to transcend the 00:10:59.769 --> 00:11:02.009 left -right divide. Holland must have been furious. 00:11:02.289 --> 00:11:05.350 He was. He immediately saw it as a threat, reprimanded 00:11:05.350 --> 00:11:08.009 him for it. Tensions escalated. And by August 00:11:08.009 --> 00:11:10.990 2016, Macron had resigned to focus on his presidential 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:13.750 campaign. So by the time the 2017 campaign really 00:11:13.750 --> 00:11:16.250 kicked off, he crafted this fascinating identity. 00:11:16.570 --> 00:11:19.009 The ultimate outsider who was also the ultimate 00:11:19.009 --> 00:11:21.389 insider. He ran on a democratic revolution platform. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:24.539 He promised to unblock France. And he specifically 00:11:24.539 --> 00:11:26.919 criticized Haaland for wanting to be a normal 00:11:26.919 --> 00:11:28.639 president. Right. This is where the Jupiterian 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:32.279 idea comes from. Yes. Macron declared France 00:11:32.279 --> 00:11:35.100 needed a Jupiterian presidency. He wanted to 00:11:35.100 --> 00:11:38.220 be majestic, authoritarian, above the political 00:11:38.220 --> 00:11:41.039 fray, drawing directly on his studies of Hegel 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:43.480 and Machiavelli. That unconventional rise immediately 00:11:43.480 --> 00:11:46.259 drew criticism, though, that he was being propelled 00:11:46.259 --> 00:11:49.320 by forces outside the electorate. For sure. Opponents 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:52.019 on both the far left and far right labeled him 00:11:52.019 --> 00:11:54.509 the media candidate. Meaning? They argued he 00:11:54.509 --> 00:11:57.190 got extensive favorable coverage because of his 00:11:57.190 --> 00:11:59.730 ties to media owners, people who owned Le Monde, 00:11:59.830 --> 00:12:02.470 Nouvelle Observateur. The narrative was that 00:12:02.470 --> 00:12:04.470 the elite were marketing him like a product, 00:12:04.649 --> 00:12:06.909 especially given his background in high finance. 00:12:07.169 --> 00:12:09.429 And the 2017 election was also targeted by a 00:12:09.429 --> 00:12:12.509 major cyber attack, a sign of the new geopolitical 00:12:12.509 --> 00:12:16.210 landscape. The Macron leaks. May 2017, just two 00:12:16.210 --> 00:12:18.549 days before the final vote, nine gigabytes of 00:12:18.549 --> 00:12:20.529 campaign emails and documents were anonymously 00:12:20.529 --> 00:12:23.220 posted online. His team called. called it a massive 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.919 and coordinated hack meant to destabilize the 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:27.679 election. And was the attack ever attributed 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.379 to anyone? Security firms, Trend and Micro in 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:32.120 particular, later connected the spear phishing 00:12:32.120 --> 00:12:34.679 attacks to the infamous Russian hacking group 00:12:34.679 --> 00:12:37.799 Fancy Bear. The same group linked to the DNC 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:41.100 hack in the US. The very same. The Kremlin denied 00:12:41.100 --> 00:12:43.179 it, of course. But the incident showed that digital 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:46.100 warfare was now integral to major European elections. 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:49.659 And Macron, with his pro -EU, anti -Russian stance, 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.779 was a clear target. Despite all that, the controversies 00:12:52.779 --> 00:12:55.940 and the hack, he won decisively. But the details 00:12:55.940 --> 00:12:59.559 of that victory are telling. He got 66 .1 % of 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:01.539 the vote against Marine Le Pen. It looks like 00:13:01.539 --> 00:13:04.190 a landslide. But it wasn't that simple. No. It 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:07.629 was marked by record abstention over 25%. And 00:13:07.629 --> 00:13:11.049 8 % of ballots were blank or spoiled. So a huge 00:13:11.049 --> 00:13:12.710 chunk of the electorate was voting against the 00:13:12.710 --> 00:13:15.429 far right, not enthusiastically for the new president. 00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:18.889 That lack of deep popular legitimacy would really 00:13:18.889 --> 00:13:21.899 plague his approval ratings for years. So entering 00:13:21.899 --> 00:13:24.720 the LZ, Macron has a strong mandate. He quickly 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:27.019 gets a comfortable majority in parliament. And 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:28.899 his first priority was fulfilling that promise 00:13:28.899 --> 00:13:31.919 to clean up French politics and assert his Jupiterian 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:35.639 authority. Yes. On domestic policy, his first 00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:38.950 win was anti -corruption. He banned elected officials 00:13:38.950 --> 00:13:41.509 from hiring family members, which was a direct 00:13:41.509 --> 00:13:44.549 response to the fill -on scandal that had derailed 00:13:44.549 --> 00:13:47.230 his main conservative competitor. But his administration 00:13:47.230 --> 00:13:49.769 immediately ran into trouble on a really personal 00:13:49.769 --> 00:13:51.570 issue, which sort of challenged that promise 00:13:51.570 --> 00:13:54.269 to lead by example. The proposal for an official 00:13:54.269 --> 00:13:57.090 funded first lady role for his wife, Brigitte. 00:13:57.549 --> 00:14:00.309 While many countries have that, in France it 00:14:00.309 --> 00:14:04.549 was seen as, well... Especially given his Jupiterian 00:14:04.549 --> 00:14:07.529 aspirations. Exactly. And contradictory to his 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:10.570 anti -nepotism stance. The backlash was immediate 00:14:10.570 --> 00:14:14.710 and huge. An online petition got nearly 290 ,000 00:14:14.710 --> 00:14:17.049 signatures in just a few weeks. So he backed 00:14:17.049 --> 00:14:19.769 down. He was forced to. He had to abandon the 00:14:19.769 --> 00:14:22.429 plan for an official salaried role. It showed 00:14:22.429 --> 00:14:25.029 an early sensitivity to public opinion when pushed 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:27.730 hard enough. The main thrust of his early presidency, 00:14:27.909 --> 00:14:30.169 though, was the structural overhaul of the labor 00:14:30.169 --> 00:14:32.250 market. That was really his life's work at that 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:35.389 point. He aimed to fundamentally shift French 00:14:35.389 --> 00:14:38.350 labor relations, move away from the centralized 00:14:38.350 --> 00:14:41.549 adversarial system towards a more flexible, consensus 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:44.110 -driven model like you see in Germany or Scandinavia. 00:14:44.399 --> 00:14:47.419 So how did he do that? He pushed reforms to empower 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:50.019 negotiation at the company level rather than 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.840 national union agreements. And he capped payouts 00:14:52.840 --> 00:14:54.919 for dismissals, which was supposed to encourage 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.419 companies to hire more readily because the risk 00:14:57.419 --> 00:14:59.879 of litigation was lower. And were there any tangible 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:02.720 results from that push before the big protests 00:15:02.720 --> 00:15:06.000 began? There were. During this period, the reforms 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.610 were credited with a real improvement. Government 00:15:08.610 --> 00:15:10.610 figures showed unemployment had dropped by 1 00:15:10.610 --> 00:15:13.470 .8%, the biggest drop since 2001. A crucial, 00:15:13.610 --> 00:15:16.929 measurable success for his agenda. It was, even 00:15:16.929 --> 00:15:19.230 as the political opposition was raging. And yet, 00:15:19.250 --> 00:15:21.690 despite the job growth, he got this reputation 00:15:21.690 --> 00:15:24.370 that just stuck. President of the rich. That 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:26.809 label was a direct result of his first tax policies. 00:15:27.009 --> 00:15:30.129 In 2017, he famously replaced the existing wealth 00:15:30.129 --> 00:15:33.470 tax, the ISF, which targeted global assets. With 00:15:33.470 --> 00:15:36.129 a new tax that focused only on real estate. Exactly. 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:38.679 By removing financial assets like stocks and 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:41.120 bonds from the wealth tax, opponents immediately 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:43.519 framed it as a massive gift to the financial 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:46.580 elite, his old friends, and it cemented that 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:49.399 president of the rich narrative. That became 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:51.720 the rallying cry for all the protests that followed. 00:15:52.110 --> 00:15:54.190 And before the yellow vests even emerged, he 00:15:54.190 --> 00:15:56.690 had this massive confrontation with the military 00:15:56.690 --> 00:16:00.870 that showed his ruthless determination. The clash 00:16:00.870 --> 00:16:03.149 with Chief of General Staff Pierre de Villiers. 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.509 July 2017, just weeks into his presidency, Macron 00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:10.809 imposed an $850 million cut on the military budget. 00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:13.629 And de Villiers publicly objected. He did, citing 00:16:13.629 --> 00:16:16.629 readiness concerns. And the confrontation escalated. 00:16:16.710 --> 00:16:19.090 De Villiers reportedly told a parliamentary group, 00:16:19.250 --> 00:16:21.730 I will not let myself be flaked like this. Wow. 00:16:22.210 --> 00:16:24.909 That's unprecedented. Totally. Open defiance 00:16:24.909 --> 00:16:27.470 of the commander in chief. Macron accepted his 00:16:27.470 --> 00:16:29.850 resignation, replaced him immediately and sent 00:16:29.850 --> 00:16:33.009 a clear signal. I am the boss. Dissent will not 00:16:33.009 --> 00:16:35.870 be tolerated. That tension between top down reform 00:16:35.870 --> 00:16:38.629 and internal resistance, it just exploded in 00:16:38.629 --> 00:16:40.929 late 2018 with the yellow vests. That became 00:16:40.929 --> 00:16:43.649 the defining feature of his first term. The Gilets 00:16:43.649 --> 00:16:46.700 Jaunes protests were a societal explosion. They 00:16:46.700 --> 00:16:49.840 started in November 2018, a spontaneous response 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.320 to a planned fuel tax increase. It was seen as 00:16:53.320 --> 00:16:55.759 punishing working class and rural commuters while 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:57.620 the president of the rich protected his wealthy 00:16:57.620 --> 00:16:59.799 friends. The high -vis vest became the symbol 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:02.750 of marginalized France. It did. And the protests 00:17:02.750 --> 00:17:05.670 were massive, relentless, lasting well into 2020. 00:17:05.869 --> 00:17:09.049 They morphed beyond just fuel tax into a general 00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:11.910 rejection of Macron's perceived aloofness and 00:17:11.910 --> 00:17:13.609 his whole style of governance. And the impact? 00:17:13.990 --> 00:17:16.410 Paris saw constant street battles, vandalism. 00:17:16.529 --> 00:17:19.269 It forced Macron to launch the Grand Débat National, 00:17:19.490 --> 00:17:21.470 a series of town halls to try and reconnect. 00:17:21.769 --> 00:17:23.950 But the protests just hammered his political 00:17:23.950 --> 00:17:26.549 capital. His approval rating plummeted to around 00:17:26.549 --> 00:17:29.970 25 percent by the end of 2018, a historic low. 00:17:30.170 --> 00:17:31.579 And it was in the middle of all this. that he 00:17:31.579 --> 00:17:34.259 tried his first major pension reform. Yes, round 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:37.940 one. Announced in late 2019, the plan was incredibly 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:41.259 ambitious. Scrap the 42 separate old professional 00:17:41.259 --> 00:17:43.839 pension schemes and create a single, unified, 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.500 points -based national system. Which the unions 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:48.839 feared would disadvantage public workers. And 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.380 raise the effective retirement age. So it led 00:17:51.380 --> 00:17:54.420 to weeks of massive strikes, total paralysis 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:56.700 of public transport. And the political consequence. 00:17:57.140 --> 00:17:59.190 The government struggled. They compromised on 00:17:59.190 --> 00:18:01.490 the retirement age, but still had to resort to 00:18:01.490 --> 00:18:04.329 using Article 49 .3 again to force it through. 00:18:04.430 --> 00:18:08.430 And then COVID -19 hit. And the whole thing was 00:18:08.430 --> 00:18:10.569 shelved. The entire draft was pulled during the 00:18:10.569 --> 00:18:14.069 lockdown in March 2020. The reform died, but 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:16.190 the political poison remained. And then came 00:18:16.190 --> 00:18:18.990 the Benalla affair, which shook the very foundations 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:21.829 of the executive's integrity. Oh, the Benalla 00:18:21.829 --> 00:18:25.599 affair in 2018 was a huge crisis. Alexander Benalla, 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:28.079 a top member of Macron's personal security team, 00:18:28.220 --> 00:18:30.759 was filmed beating a protester while posing as 00:18:30.759 --> 00:18:33.420 a cop. The video was explosive, but the real 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:36.099 issue was the cover -up. Exactly. The Élysée 00:18:36.099 --> 00:18:38.160 failed to refer the case to prosecutors immediately. 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:41.759 Instead, Benalla just got a mild 15 -day internal 00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:44.619 suspension. It caused a political storm. The 00:18:44.619 --> 00:18:46.420 opposition claimed the presidential office was 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:48.519 deliberately shielding one of its own from the 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:51.450 law. Shifting gears to foreign policy, Macron 00:18:51.450 --> 00:18:54.150 became known for this highly personalized, assertive 00:18:54.150 --> 00:18:56.549 diplomatic style. He established a reputation 00:18:56.549 --> 00:18:59.450 for aggressive body language, all designed to 00:18:59.450 --> 00:19:02.230 project strength. We all remember that power 00:19:02.230 --> 00:19:04.369 struggle handshake with Donald Trump at the 2017 00:19:04.369 --> 00:19:07.529 NATO summit. It was analyzed globally. It was. 00:19:07.990 --> 00:19:10.650 But he wasn't afraid to confront foes either. 00:19:10.890 --> 00:19:15.029 When he met Putin at Versailles in 2017, he directly 00:19:15.029 --> 00:19:18.210 called out Russia today and Sputnik as Organs 00:19:18.210 --> 00:19:21.190 of influence and propaganda, of lying propaganda. 00:19:21.630 --> 00:19:24.250 He also strategically navigated the trade tensions 00:19:24.250 --> 00:19:26.690 between the U .S. and China, positioning France 00:19:26.690 --> 00:19:29.670 as an independent player. That was the 2019 China 00:19:29.670 --> 00:19:32.089 pivot. During the height of the U .S.-China trade 00:19:32.089 --> 00:19:34.750 war, Macron and Xi Jinping signed deals worth 00:19:34.750 --> 00:19:37.380 $40 billion. Including a massive Airbus purchase. 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:39.619 A $30 billion purchase of Airbus planes, yes. 00:19:39.819 --> 00:19:42.359 Plus deals on French chicken exports, financial 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:44.900 cooperation. It was a major assertion of French 00:19:44.900 --> 00:19:46.940 economic power, showing that France would not 00:19:46.940 --> 00:19:49.339 be forced to choose sides. That desire for independence 00:19:49.339 --> 00:19:51.799 led directly to the huge diplomatic fallout with 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:54.859 his closest allies, the Ayukas Pact. The AUKUS 00:19:54.859 --> 00:19:57.779 deal in September 2021 was a diplomatic explosion, 00:19:57.980 --> 00:20:00.460 the deepest rift in French -U .S. relations in 00:20:00.460 --> 00:20:03.819 decades. Australia just abruptly canceled its 00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:07.480 56 billion submarine deal with France. In favor 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:09.880 of a nuclear sub deal with the U .S. and U .K. 00:20:09.940 --> 00:20:12.519 And France reacted with absolute fury. They saw 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:15.140 it as a profound breach of trust, a backstabbing 00:20:15.140 --> 00:20:17.980 by key allies. The French response was historic. 00:20:18.420 --> 00:20:20.240 It was the diplomatic equivalent of dropping 00:20:20.240 --> 00:20:22.769 a nuclear bomb. For the first time in history, 00:20:22.910 --> 00:20:24.950 France recalled its ambassadors from both the 00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:27.490 United States and Australia. The White House 00:20:27.490 --> 00:20:29.390 later had to issue a public statement of regret, 00:20:29.569 --> 00:20:32.829 but that event solidified Macron's push for strategic 00:20:32.829 --> 00:20:35.650 autonomy. The idea that Europe cannot depend 00:20:35.650 --> 00:20:37.789 on the U .S. and must fend for itself. And in 00:20:37.789 --> 00:20:40.190 spite of this incredibly turbulent first term, 00:20:40.390 --> 00:20:43.349 he still secured reelection in 2022. He became 00:20:43.349 --> 00:20:45.369 the first incumbent to win reelection since Chirac 00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:48.329 in 2002, again defeating Marine Le Pen. He won 00:20:48.329 --> 00:20:51.890 with a healthy 58 .55 percent to 41 .45 percent. 00:20:52.009 --> 00:20:53.789 And there's always a but with these numbers. 00:20:53.970 --> 00:20:57.029 Here's that critical detail again. The enthusiasm 00:20:57.029 --> 00:21:00.230 was missing. The participation rate among registered 00:21:00.230 --> 00:21:04.220 voters was just 38 .52 percent. the lowest since 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:08.599 1969. Voters feared Le Pen, but they were deeply 00:21:08.599 --> 00:21:11.660 reluctant to endorse Macron. So a mandate defined 00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:15.220 by political fatigue, not popular zeal. Exactly. 00:21:15.539 --> 00:21:17.500 And finally, before we move to the even more 00:21:17.500 --> 00:21:20.119 tumultuous second term, we have to touch on his 00:21:20.119 --> 00:21:23.660 other official role, co -prince of Andorra. It's 00:21:23.660 --> 00:21:26.539 this unusual inherited title he gets ex officio 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:29.200 as president of France. A fascinating little 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.579 anecdote came during the COVID pandemic. The 00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:33.500 Andorran government asked France for economic 00:21:33.500 --> 00:21:36.660 aid. Macron refused, citing European Central 00:21:36.660 --> 00:21:38.460 Bank rules that prevented the Bank of France 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:40.680 from offering loans to another country without 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:43.380 ECB approval. It shows the limits of that historical 00:21:43.380 --> 00:21:46.059 power. Macron's second term, starting in 2022, 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:48.240 immediately felt like a whole different political 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:50.680 world. The instability started right away, not 00:21:50.680 --> 00:21:52.480 on the streets this time, but in the legislature 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:54.319 with the collapse of his parliamentary majority. 00:21:54.880 --> 00:21:57.279 The 2022 legislative election was a complete 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.460 disaster for his coalition. It resulted in a 00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:02.900 hung parliament, France's first minority government 00:22:02.900 --> 00:22:06.180 since 1993. How badly did they do? They fell 00:22:06.180 --> 00:22:09.339 38 seats short of the 289 needed for an absolute 00:22:09.339 --> 00:22:12.000 majority. And crucially, his key parliamentary 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:14.640 leaders, guys like Richard Ferrand and Christophe 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:17.460 Castaner, lost their own seats. It effectively 00:22:17.460 --> 00:22:20.200 decapitated his political structure. Which instantly 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:22.559 meant political gridlock for his new prime minister, 00:22:22.660 --> 00:22:25.420 Elizabeth Bourne. Bourne, the second female PM 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:28.119 in French history, led an administration defined 00:22:28.119 --> 00:22:31.440 by just extreme legislative pain. Her government 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.000 was characterized by the repeated, almost routine 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:37.019 reliance on Article 49 .3. How often did they 00:22:37.019 --> 00:22:39.720 use it? Get this statistic. Her cabinet had to 00:22:39.720 --> 00:22:42.000 use it 10 times in a row just to pass the 2023 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:44.319 budget. It just highlights the severe instability, 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.940 the government's total inability to find consensus 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:49.660 on even core financial laws. This legislative 00:22:49.660 --> 00:22:52.019 bottleneck then culminated in the inevitable 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:54.680 second attempt at pension reform, which was, 00:22:54.740 --> 00:22:57.539 again, politically explosive. Pension reform 00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:01.940 round two, March 2023. The goal was raising the 00:23:01.940 --> 00:23:05.900 retirement age from 62 to 64. Macron saw this 00:23:05.900 --> 00:23:08.359 as essential for his legacy. But with a minority 00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:10.339 parliament, he knew it wouldn't pass. Right. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:13.170 So the government. for the final time under Borne. 00:23:13.170 --> 00:23:15.809 Once again, used Article 49 .3 to force it through 00:23:15.809 --> 00:23:17.809 without a final vote. And the public reaction? 00:23:18.089 --> 00:23:21.549 Was it worse than 2019? It was explosive. The 00:23:21.549 --> 00:23:25.130 reliance on 49 .3 just intensified the massive 00:23:25.130 --> 00:23:28.410 nationwide protests and strikes. Images of burning 00:23:28.410 --> 00:23:30.589 barricades in Paris, millions on the streets. 00:23:30.869 --> 00:23:33.049 But this time, Macron refused to compromise. 00:23:33.390 --> 00:23:35.670 The law passed, but the government's legitimacy 00:23:35.670 --> 00:23:39.220 was just shredded. Using 49 .3 meant the government 00:23:39.220 --> 00:23:41.539 was constantly facing challenges to its very 00:23:41.539 --> 00:23:44.200 existence. Absolutely. The born government had 00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:47.599 to endure 17 no -confidence motions. She narrowly 00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:50.140 survived one in March 2023 by only nine votes. 00:23:50.319 --> 00:23:52.460 The government was permanently hanging by a thread. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:54.420 And the instability wasn't just in parliament. 00:23:54.579 --> 00:23:56.359 It spilled violently onto the streets in the 00:23:56.359 --> 00:24:00.500 summer of 2023. The Nahil Marzouk riots. Unrest 00:24:00.500 --> 00:24:02.720 after the fatal police killing of the 17 -year 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.599 -old Nahal M. The riots became widespread and 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:08.579 intense, reflecting deep frustration over policing, 00:24:08.859 --> 00:24:12.259 racial inequality, and poverty. And Macron's 00:24:12.259 --> 00:24:15.180 administration took a hardline response. Deployed 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:18.460 45 ,000 police officers. The justice minister 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:21.500 advised courts to apply harsher, faster sentences. 00:24:21.819 --> 00:24:24.599 And the result? Over 2 ,000 arrests in the first 00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:28.160 week alone, many of them minors. It just showed 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:30.240 how quickly the government would use a hard judicial 00:24:30.240 --> 00:24:33.579 response to a social flashpoint. The social fabric 00:24:33.579 --> 00:24:36.119 was clearly under enormous stress. And amidst 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:38.220 all this, the immigration debate generated a 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:41.079 crisis that splintered his coalition even further. 00:24:41.299 --> 00:24:44.339 A major political defeat. The government's initial 00:24:44.339 --> 00:24:46.680 immigration bill was unexpectedly defeated in 00:24:46.680 --> 00:24:50.779 December 2023. A spectacular debacle. To save 00:24:50.779 --> 00:24:52.900 it, they had to negotiate a drastically hardened 00:24:52.900 --> 00:24:54.900 version with the conservative Senate. So measures 00:24:54.900 --> 00:24:57.559 like quotas and restrictions on family reunification. 00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:00.319 Yes. And that compromise meant getting support 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:02.839 from the far right. The final bill passed, thanks 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:04.859 largely to the far right national rally. What 00:25:04.859 --> 00:25:07.279 was the political cost of that? It caused a huge 00:25:07.279 --> 00:25:09.940 rebellion within Macron's own coalition. His 00:25:09.940 --> 00:25:12.299 health minister immediately resigned. It's just 00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:14.960 underscored the ideological rifts. Macron was 00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:17.240 willing to rely on the far right to govern, which 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:19.720 destroyed his Republican front image. Despite 00:25:19.720 --> 00:25:21.940 the chaos, though, he did successfully champion 00:25:21.940 --> 00:25:25.000 one major constitutional reform. Yes, a historic 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.900 success. In March 2024, he got a constitutional 00:25:27.900 --> 00:25:30.779 amendment passed to protect abortion as a guaranteed 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:33.559 freedom. This was the first constitutional reform 00:25:33.559 --> 00:25:36.660 in France since 2008 and a significant milestone. 00:25:37.059 --> 00:25:40.019 Now we get to the political crisis of 2024 and 00:25:40.019 --> 00:25:43.299 2025, a sequence of events, this revolving door 00:25:43.299 --> 00:25:45.619 of prime ministers that just has no modern equivalent. 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.420 The trigger was the massive defeat in the June 00:25:48.420 --> 00:25:51.819 2024 European elections. His group got only 14 00:25:51.819 --> 00:25:55.000 .6 % of the vote, almost 17 points behind Le 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.519 Pen's RN. And his reaction was immediate and 00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.279 shocking. He dissolved the National Assembly 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:01.819 and called a snap legislative election. A huge 00:26:01.819 --> 00:26:05.200 gamble. That backfired profoundly. It did. His 00:26:05.200 --> 00:26:07.599 group placed a distant third. The result was 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.140 an even more fragmented hung parliament. Total 00:26:10.140 --> 00:26:12.779 gridlock. This led directly to the stunning succession 00:26:12.779 --> 00:26:15.240 of short -lived governments. Let's just detail 00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:17.559 that rapid succession because this is the heart 00:26:17.559 --> 00:26:20.099 of the current crisis. OK, so Prime Minister 00:26:20.099 --> 00:26:23.180 Gabriel Attal resigned. Then Macron appointed 00:26:23.180 --> 00:26:25.880 the conservative veteran Michel Barnier, hoping 00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:28.779 to build a right wing coalition. Barnier lasted 00:26:28.779 --> 00:26:31.279 how long? Three months. He tried to pass the 00:26:31.279 --> 00:26:33.980 2025 Social Security budget using Article 49 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:37.059 .3. This immediately triggered a vote of no confidence. 00:26:37.299 --> 00:26:40.819 And he lost. On December 4th, 2024, the National 00:26:40.819 --> 00:26:43.970 Assembly toppled his government. It was an alliance 00:26:43.970 --> 00:26:46.569 of the far left and far right. The first French 00:26:46.569 --> 00:26:48.349 cabinet to be brought down by parliament since 00:26:48.349 --> 00:26:51.750 1962. A total rejection of the president's choice. 00:26:51.930 --> 00:26:54.150 And Macron blamed this on an alliance of the 00:26:54.150 --> 00:26:56.349 extreme left and extreme right, framing himself 00:26:56.349 --> 00:26:59.230 as the victim. Of course. And the chaos continued. 00:26:59.509 --> 00:27:02.029 He appointed the centrist veteran Francois Bayrou, 00:27:02.230 --> 00:27:04.650 who was himself toppled by a confidence vote 00:27:04.650 --> 00:27:07.950 in September 2025. He couldn't unite a stable 00:27:07.950 --> 00:27:10.930 base. The instability was reaching farcical levels. 00:27:11.230 --> 00:27:14.450 It was. Then Sebastian Le Cornu, the minister 00:27:14.450 --> 00:27:17.630 of the armed forces, was appointed PM. He resigned 00:27:17.630 --> 00:27:19.809 less than a month later over backlash about his 00:27:19.809 --> 00:27:22.269 government's composition. Macron reappointed 00:27:22.269 --> 00:27:24.869 him. But the whole sequence, Barnier, Biru, Le 00:27:24.869 --> 00:27:28.450 Cornu, it just defines the crisis. A powerful 00:27:28.450 --> 00:27:31.190 president fundamentally unable to secure a working 00:27:31.190 --> 00:27:33.269 majority. But despite all that domestic chaos, 00:27:33.490 --> 00:27:36.109 he remains laser focused on his grand European 00:27:36.109 --> 00:27:39.079 foreign policy vision. the strategic eponymy 00:27:39.079 --> 00:27:41.859 doctrine. This doctrine is central to his entire 00:27:41.859 --> 00:27:44.240 identity. It's born out of those Machiavellian 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:46.640 theories and reinforced by the Akos's betrayal. 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:49.819 He's delivered major speeches calling for Europe 00:27:49.819 --> 00:27:52.319 to reduce its dependence on the U .S. and become 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.880 a third superpower. And his proposals are ambitious. 00:27:55.259 --> 00:27:57.660 Boosting European defense, moving away from U 00:27:57.660 --> 00:27:59.900 .S. intelligence, and even reducing reliance 00:27:59.900 --> 00:28:01.680 on the U .S. dollar. He's also taken a really 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:04.680 strong, often provocative stance on Ukraine and 00:28:04.680 --> 00:28:07.279 Russia. He now calls Russia an existential threat 00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:09.980 to Europe. He welcomed Germany's massive rearmament 00:28:09.980 --> 00:28:12.920 plan. And regarding Ukraine, he visited Kiev 00:28:12.920 --> 00:28:16.319 in 2022 and called neutral nations complicit 00:28:16.319 --> 00:28:18.500 in the new imperialism. But the most controversial 00:28:18.500 --> 00:28:20.859 moment was suggesting French boots might go on 00:28:20.859 --> 00:28:25.420 the ground. Indeed. In February 2024, he controversially 00:28:25.420 --> 00:28:27.779 suggested sending NATO ground troops to Ukraine. 00:28:28.430 --> 00:28:31.170 It horrified many allies, but it was designed 00:28:31.170 --> 00:28:34.170 to inject strategic ambiguity into Russia's calculus. 00:28:34.430 --> 00:28:36.769 And he backed that up with hardware. In May 2024, 00:28:37.190 --> 00:28:39.910 he gave Ukraine permission to use France's Eskel 00:28:39.910 --> 00:28:42.890 -PEG missiles against military sites on Russian 00:28:42.890 --> 00:28:45.349 soil. Moving to the Middle East, his position 00:28:45.349 --> 00:28:48.490 has also evolved over time. Yes. In October 2023, 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:51.529 he condemned Hamas and supported Israel's right 00:28:51.529 --> 00:28:54.170 to self -defense. But as the humanitarian crisis 00:28:54.170 --> 00:28:57.779 deepened, he quickly shifted. By November 2023, 00:28:58.220 --> 00:29:01.140 he was calling for a ceasefire and urging Israel 00:29:01.140 --> 00:29:04.200 to stop bombing Gaza. And in 2025? In July of 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:06.680 2025, he announced France would officially recognize 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:09.559 a Palestinian state at the next UN General Assembly. 00:29:09.759 --> 00:29:12.670 A significant shift. Finally, his dynamic with 00:29:12.670 --> 00:29:14.869 the U .S., particularly President Trump, it remained 00:29:14.869 --> 00:29:17.349 volatile, underscoring the friction in his autonomy 00:29:17.349 --> 00:29:20.210 doctrine. Their relationship is purely transactional 00:29:20.210 --> 00:29:22.849 and very public. After Israeli strikes on Iran 00:29:22.849 --> 00:29:27.049 in June 2025, Macron called for maximum restraint, 00:29:27.289 --> 00:29:30.170 a diplomatic rebuke. Then he had this highly 00:29:30.170 --> 00:29:32.690 public dispute with Trump over the U .S. president's 00:29:32.690 --> 00:29:35.309 abrupt departure from the G7 summit. Jerome publicly 00:29:35.309 --> 00:29:37.710 contradicted him. Wrote that Macron always gets 00:29:37.710 --> 00:29:40.049 it wrong. Stay tuned. And that was followed by 00:29:40.049 --> 00:29:43.589 a substantive policy disagreement. Yes. Macron 00:29:43.589 --> 00:29:46.089 quickly called Trump's subsequent airstrikes 00:29:46.089 --> 00:29:49.309 on Iranian nuclear sites illegal and counterproductive. 00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:52.490 This constant friction shows that even as his 00:29:52.490 --> 00:29:54.730 domestic power is collapsing, Macron remains 00:29:54.730 --> 00:29:57.430 determined to assert France's independent geopolitical 00:29:57.430 --> 00:29:59.710 voice, often in direct opposition to Washington. 00:29:59.990 --> 00:30:03.829 What a monumental and, well, paradoxical timeline. 00:30:04.109 --> 00:30:06.089 If you were to condense the core of the Emmanuel 00:30:06.089 --> 00:30:09.490 Macron story from 2017 to late 2025, it's just 00:30:09.490 --> 00:30:11.970 defined by these two dueling forces, the domestic 00:30:11.970 --> 00:30:14.609 struggle for legitimacy and this ambitious, unyielding 00:30:14.609 --> 00:30:17.690 drive for global influence. Precisely. He was 00:30:17.690 --> 00:30:20.720 the philosopher. The banker, the outsider, who 00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:23.220 won two terms by shattering the traditional system. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:26.180 Yet his second term has been defined by this 00:30:26.180 --> 00:30:28.779 deep structural rejection from the parliament. 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:31.519 This gridlock has created unprecedented instability. 00:30:32.019 --> 00:30:34.619 Forcing him to rely on constitutional bypasses 00:30:34.619 --> 00:30:37.920 like 49 .3 and to manage this chaotic series 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.519 of short -lived governments, Barnier, Beirut, 00:30:40.700 --> 00:30:43.579 Le Cornu, in a way France hasn't seen in over 00:30:43.579 --> 00:30:46.599 six decades. But internationally, the chaotic 00:30:46.599 --> 00:30:48.940 domestic scene hasn't slowed his ambition one 00:30:48.940 --> 00:30:52.079 bit. He remains arguably the most forceful advocate 00:30:52.079 --> 00:30:54.680 for a strong, strategically autonomous Europe. 00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:57.880 He's trying to position the EU as a third superpower, 00:30:58.279 --> 00:31:00.299 independent of the U .S. He seems to believe 00:31:00.299 --> 00:31:02.480 his mission just transcends his approval ratings. 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:05.359 It's the ultimate paradox. The man who wants 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:07.460 Europe to be a global power acts as a sovereign 00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:09.799 leader, while at home he runs a state that is 00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:12.299 structurally incapable of passing a budget without 00:31:12.299 --> 00:31:15.019 a constitutional threat. all mean for the future, 00:31:15.099 --> 00:31:16.920 especially for the rest of Europe? And here's 00:31:16.920 --> 00:31:18.619 where it gets really interesting. And this is 00:31:18.619 --> 00:31:20.200 the provocative thought we want to leave you 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:23.160 with. If France's political system continues 00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:26.079 to reject stability, forcing a powerful president 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:29.039 to rely on constitutional bypasses and unstable 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:31.119 governments that can fall with a simple vote. 00:31:31.930 --> 00:31:34.150 What are the long term implications for France's 00:31:34.150 --> 00:31:37.009 credibility as the leader pushing for that European 00:31:37.009 --> 00:31:39.529 independence, for the strategic autonomy doctrine 00:31:39.529 --> 00:31:42.630 on the global stage? Is Macron's personal ambition 00:31:42.630 --> 00:31:45.190 strong enough to outweigh the structural paralysis 00:31:45.190 --> 00:31:46.730 of the nation he leads?