IWe almost had to elbow our way, Friday November 8 at the Palais des Congrès in Saint-Raphaël (Var), to see the artist up close. That evening, neither singer nor fashionable music group. He is a superstar of another kind who is starring in a one-man show attended by nearly 1,100 people, including 300 behind a giant screen in a side room. His name: Nicolas Sarkozy.
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The former President of the Republic is this year the headliner of the seventh Rencontres de l’avenir, organized since 2018 by the economist Nicolas Bouzou and the mayor of Les Républicains de Saint-Raphaël, Frédéric Masquelier. And if we are to believe the applause meter, the luxury speaker who performed that evening put on a show, even managing to draw smiles from the journalists present in the room.
“Talking about France to the French”
As expected, Nicolas Sarkozy first reacted to the result of the American presidential election of November 5. “If Trump won, it’s because he spoke to Americans about the American nation. Kamala Harris lost because she spoke to communities about community,” he analyzed, estimating that in France, to win, it was therefore necessary to “talk about France to the French.”
The former head of state, visibly in great shape that evening, also did not mince his words against the “defeated observers” who, on our side of the Atlantic, saw “Trump as a hell and Kamala like heaven.”
“One of the great problems of political life is ignorance,” he grumbled. According to him, the style between the Republican and Democratic camps is different, but the policy is the same: “America first.” To prove it, Nicolas Sarkozy draws on his memories. “Certainly Trump built a wall in Mexico, but Barack Obama put up barbed wire,” he assured.
Peaks against Royal and Hollande
As is often the case, the tutelary figure of the Republican right could not help but pull the rug out from under him, in the process stinging one of his former political opponents, Ségolène Royal. “Like Kamala Harris, we found Ségolène Royal formidable! But she ended up being hated when she lost to me,” tackled the winner of the 2007 presidential election.
François Hollande, elected against Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012, also took his place. Contesting European distrust of the United States motivated by the personality of Donald Trump, he slips, almost hilariously: “Who would accept that we love France because there is a sympathetic president and we hate it because there is a “normal” president? » The room is won over. For the record, François Hollande, during the 2012 presidential campaign, said he wanted to embody a “normal” presidential style unlike Nicolas Sarkozy.
Let us instead ask ourselves the question of how to bring the United Kingdom back into the EU!Nicolas Sarkozy
Also questioned about Europe, the former head of state was not much more tender… He reproaches him for his naivety towards the United States. “You have to be brainless like the European Commission to believe that others will defend our interests in our place,” he raged. Nicolas Sarkozy considers that American and European interests are not aligned.
He remembers refusing Obama Turkey’s entry into Europe, which aroused the incomprehension of the former American president. Concerning Ukraine’s proposed candidacy for membership in the European Union, he responds: “The more you expand eastwards, the more you weaken Europe. Let us instead ask ourselves the question of how to bring the United Kingdom back! »
The Olympics, a “slap” to wokism
The ex-president, while the Barnier government seeks to make budgetary savings, also delivered an implacable verdict on the French model. “The problem is very simple: we don’t work enough,” he regretted, criticizing the 35-hour reform and mocking the supporters of the move to the 32-hour week.
If we continue our logic, the more the French produce, the less heavy the debt burden will be. “There was a guy who said a few years ago, “work more to earn more”. He was right! » he said, alluding to his famous political slogan, the idea of which he is pleased to have recently crossed the Atlantic. Donald Trump has indeed promised to tax overtime in the United States.
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Kangaroo of the day
Answer
To conclude this conference, which looked like a political meeting, Nicolas Sarkozy unleashed himself on wokism, to the delight of the room. “The Paris 2024 Olympic Games were the biggest slap in the face given to this thought,” he said.
For the record, this catch-all word designates the most radical activists, those who see in each of the inequalities proof of the existence of a system of oppression. “At the Olympics, there are no medals for everyone: the reward is merit. The Olympics are the opposite of leveling! »
