what to remember from Jordan Bardella's book

The coincidences of the calendar sometimes lead to tasty parallels being drawn. Since this Wednesday, November 13, Marine Le Pen has found herself plunged into a particularly precarious situation, while the prosecution is demanding five years of ineligibility with immediate execution in the trial of the parliamentary assistants of the National Rally. For Jordan Bardella, on the contrary, the period is rather auspicious: this Saturday, November 9, the young president of the RN finally launched his work, What I'm looking for (Fayard), hybrid object eyeing biography and programmatic essay.

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If the judicial disgrace of “MLP” were to be confirmed, his lieutenant could be propelled as candidate for the next presidential election, he who seems for the moment promised to Matignon in the event of an electoral victory for the RN. Does he have what it takes? Jordan Bardella divides. Confident, skilled on television sets, a good debater, the native of Seine-Saint-Denis annoys with his hollow side, some accusing him of being nothing more than a machine for spitting out language elements concocted by his advisors. Let's be clear: this first book will not silence the critics on this point. But What I'm looking for still contains some lessons. As we do not want political enthusiasts to inflict reading the pamphlet on themselves, here are the three lessons to be learned from it…

First lesson: Jordan Bardella is still a political cyborg

If some expected the president of the RN to flesh out his character, that he “ split the armor ”, to use the established expression, they will be for their costs. Written in a mediocre and sometimes frankly clumsy style, the approximately 300 pages of What I'm looking for at times seem to emanate from artificial intelligence. Bardella delivers the clichés of a certain right at a monotonous pace, allowing himself neither audacity nor transgression. We began our reading by noting “ platitude » as soon as we came across one, before giving up: the exercise would simply have consisted of listing the pages of the book.

Here are a few, for illustration purposes. Page 44: “ I advocate tolerance and detest sectarianism as it clashes with democracy. » Page 218 : « Valuing effort has always seemed self-evident to me. Rising through work, beyond origin or social background, is the heart of the Republican promise. » Page 305 : « In politics, tenacity is an essential quality. » We will have understood this, despite his numerous attempts at “lessons” beginning with “ in politics… », the 29-year-old young man is neither striking for his stylistic qualities nor for his ideological verve.

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The rare interesting moments of What I'm looking for lie in the narration, certainly calibrated to the centimeter, of the journey of Bardella, from the middle class and Italian immigration during a happy childhood spent in the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. Legitimately concerned about his private life, the MEP does not dispel doubts about the weakness of his career, he who ultimately experienced the trajectory of a perfect apparatchik, having neither completed his studies nor held a job outside of politics.

Second lesson: Jordan Bardella always wants to bet on the right

This is the Bardella “brand”, the one which allows him to differentiate himself quite clearly from Marine Le Pen: he assumes his right-wing roots, in contrast to the national-populist positioning of his mentor. While “MLP” refuses to place itself within the traditional divide, Jordan Bardella multiplies the attacks against the “ gauche », constantly addressed throughout the book, and in much harsher terms than Emmanuel Macron.

Reaching out to François-Xavier Bellamy and Marion Maréchal, the president of the RN delivers perhaps the most significant information on the 59th page of What I'm looking forasserting that “ future victories will require the unity of the patriotic camp, through an ability to bring together the orphans of a more Orleanist right “. Let's reread René Rémond for a moment, to see that these “Orleanists” are the proponents of a liberal and moderate position similar to Macronism, or even to the centrist wing of LR.

Bardella repeats it on page 191, he focuses on these “ orphans of the right » to grab the last electoral segments necessary for a victory for the RN. We had already seen him outline this movement during the 2024 legislative campaign, abandoning some social measures from Marine Le Pen's program. The Drancéen even admits to joining Éric Zemmour's objective, namely to achieve the alliance between the working classes and the ” patriotic bourgeoisie “. The similarities with Nicolas Sarkozy, an obvious model of Bardella, are numerous. And the story could go in the direction of the young wolf, since the rallies of Eric Ciotti and Marion Maréchal prefigure this “ union of rights » which he constructs without naming it… which can be blamed on him, like the face-to-face with Pascal Praud on the CNews channel.

Third lesson: Jordan Bardella will not let go of Marine Le Pen

However, it would be wrong to portray Bardella as Brutus ready to stab the woman who took him to the top. We have it already written in Mariannewe reiterate our position upon reading What I'm looking for : the prospect of a “Bardellist” putsch to the detriment of Marine Le Pen remains highly improbable. There are the affects, first of all: Jordan Bardella maintains an almost filial link with the woman who quickly elevated him to number two.

But there are also interests: the MEP seems to be aware of the considerable risk that betrayal would represent. His youth and inexperience are other factors encouraging him not to force fate. At 29, Bardella has time to see it coming, and a possible passage through Matignon would be far from shameful before running for the most prestigious mandate of the Fifth Republic…

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As a sign of allegiance, Bardella therefore entitles “ Marine » the last chapter of his work. He always entrusts the triple presidential candidate to you, “ with respect “. In glowing terms, he praises “ its resilience, its benevolence, its solidity; (…) its ability to weather storms and recover from blows that could have been fatal “. Almost premonitory words, given the legal challenge that Marine Le Pen is preparing to face.