Sunday, July 2, 2017

President Macron Ducks the Press

And he had been doing so well. After surprising the punditocracy by winning the French presidential election, wonder boy Emmanuel Macron topped it off by leading his political party to a decisive victory in the parliamentary election.

Not bad for an amateur.

Now, however, Macron has chosen to break with tradition and to forgo giving a news conference to celebrate Bastille Day. It’s not because the French media runs fake news. It’s not because French journalists are overtly hostile to him. It’s not because they grandstand in order to draw the maximum attention to themselves.

No, it’s for a completely different reason. Macron is not going to give a news conference because he believes that French journalists are not smart enough to understand his convoluted thinking.

The BBC reports:

French President Emmanuel Macron will break with tradition and not give a news conference on Bastille Day because his "complex thoughts" may prove too much for journalists, reports say.

A presidential source said Mr Macron's thinking did not "lend itself" to a question and answer session.

The comments, quoted by Le Monde, are likely to be seized on by Mr Macron's critics who portray him as arrogant.

Mr Macron had never stood for election before the presidential race….

It is a long-standing tradition that the president will be interviewed by the press during the day, but it seems Mr Macron has other ideas.

Le Monde quotes the source as saying that the president did not "baulk" at speaking to the media.

However, "his 'complex thought process' lends itself badly to the game of question-and-answer with journalists", the paper notes.

His “complex thought process….”  Say what? Put that one in your pipe and smoke it. One can only wonder whether the French press will call him out on it or whether they will meekly acquiesce.

Yet, I have another idea. On July 14, to celebrate Bastille Day Macron will be joined by none other than the American president, Donald Trump. If Macron does not want to face the press, perhaps Trump could stand in for him… unless Trump’s thought is too complex (or too simple) for French journalists to comprehend.

4 comments:

James said...

I don't tell them what questions to ask and they don't tell me what answers to have:
https://youtu.be/K5eVu2qDISM

Sam L. said...

No, no, NO!! Not Trump, but Obama, who is waaaaaaaaay smarter than the French journos and can tie them up with his ultra-ultra complexities of speechfying, assuming the Teleprompter can keep up with him.

Ignatius Acton Chesterton OCD said...

Perhaps Macron is too fashionable or intelligent to celebrate Bastille Day? That would follow the American center-Left party for Fourth of July. Flag pins? (spit)

Maybe Macron will body-slam the French press on a crepe cooker during some avante garde low-brow rave party (or some other French WWE equivalent), and horrify all sensible journalists across the planet. And then Duterte will one-up him with a blowing out a tiki-torch labeled "press."

OMG... the horror.

This big media's pixelated self-importance is really getting tiresome.

By the way, where was the Democrats oppo research with Trump's WWE appearance? That was video, baby. Off the radar with then there hee-haw blue-collar voters they took for granted, I suppose? For those looking for facts, feast your eyes on those West Virginia election returns the past 30 years. Talk about political climate change…

Ares Olympus said...

Yes, perhaps the complex-thinking Macron should have a competition with Trump. Their egos are at least similar.

“My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.” - Donald Trump