During the debate organized on “France 2” in the run-up to the legislative elections, the Prime Minister mentioned two articles from “Libération”. And provoked the wrath of his opponent.
Could Gabriel Attal be one of our most loyal readers? During the debate organized on France 2 three days before the first round of the legislative elections, the Prime Minister in any case mentioned twice articles signed by our newspaper to tackle his far-right opponent, Jordan Bardella. And inaugurated the first exchange of barbs of an evening rich in clashes.
It all started with a question: how to bring calm back to the country? “The role of political leaders is to seek appeasement and set an example”began by responding the former spokesperson of the Elysée. Before drawing his gun without warning: “Mr Bardella cannot present himself here as the man of unity, of appeasement”. The reason ? The program of the MEP who “stigmatizes 3.5 million dual-national French people”he believes at a time when the RN wants to prevent them from occupying “extremely sensitive jobs”. But also the list of candidates from Marine Le Pen’s party, including “one hundred” has already held “racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks…”
A complaint… never received
The Prime Minister here alludes to an investigation of Release revealing the presence of dozens of candidates who had already made reprehensible remarks in the Le Pen ranks. A few days after the publication of our article, the RN had also withdrawn its support for one of them, Joseph Martin. Running in Morbihan, he had written in October 2018 that “The gas (had) brought justice to the victims of the Shoah”. In his defense, Jordan Bardella assured France 2 that the latter had “filed a complaint” against Release. If Joseph Martin, who has since been reinstated by the RN, did indeed tell AFP that he wanted to attack our newspaper – after having spoken the day before with one of our journalists in a much more courteous tone – he may not have yet found our address: for the time being, we have not received any complaints.
Other article Libé mentioned by Gabriel Attal to tickle his opponent: the arrest of the son of a former RN executive after a homophobic attack in Paris. “I can’t wait until three weeks from now, when we can beat up as many fags as we want,” declared one of his associates. An illustration among many others allowing the Prime Minister to highlight the “impulses of hatred, discrimination which feel liberated” with the rise of the far-right party.
To support his point, the former Minister of Education also mentions a sequence that went viral from the program “Envoyé Spécial” in which an RN sympathizer repeatedly insults her neighbor. Enough to raise the tone between the two men who end up arguing in an inaudible hubbub, while Olivier Faure remains silent, looking a little astonished, standing in the middle of the two raging pugs. At the very end of the exchange, we hear Jordan Bardella choke and call Gabriel Attal a “France’s first liar.”
