Staring her rival straight in the eye each time she spoke, Marine Le Pen debated yesterday, Wednesday evening April 20, against Emmanuel Macron during the traditional debate between the presidential rounds. But if the National Rally candidate appeared calm and serene to some, she was perceived by others as passive and defensive.
After the failed debate of 2017, expectations were high as to how the far-right candidate would react to her opponent from En Marche.
Five years later, after a five-year term enamelled by several cases and crises, including those of the yellow vests, the Benalla affair or more recently the McKinsey affair and the questions surrounding the heritage of Emmanuel Macron, Marine Le Pen had in her possession several cartridges that she could use to weaken the incumbent president.
However, the deputy of Pas-de-Calais surprised by not using them or not completely, suffering at the same time the repeated attacks of a pugnacious adversary who applied himself to dismantling his program step by step.
Christel Bertrand, consultant in political communication and crisis communication, deciphered for CNEWS this choice, that is to say the attitude and the singular words of the candidate of the National Rally.
How did you find Marine Le Pen during the debate between the two rounds compared to that of 2017?
For Marine Le Pen, it could not be worse than in 2017. We can say in this way that she succeeded in the debate. It’s a success for her and, fortunately, because we couldn’t do worse.
Marine Le Pen appeared calmer, less immersed in her notes but, first on social networks and then the next day in the press, there was talk of a “mixed result”. Your opinion ?
Let’s say she looked at her grades more discreetly than in 2017. But she looked at them anyway. On the other hand, Emmanuel Macron, he took notes. And that is the difference.
Marine Le Pen was indeed calmer but that does not mean that she was less stressed. She made her first mistake even before the debate began. She made a false start by immediately starting to speak while there was still the music from the credits of the program. And that is not synonymous with serenity because starting a debate like that does not put you in a good mood.
On several subjects, Emmanuel Macron confronted Marine Le Pen with her past votes and political decisions. Do you think this was destabilizing for the candidate of the National Rally?
It was the first seconds that were destabilizing. That being so, she pulled herself together. She was consistent with her demonized image that she has put in place for many months. Above all, she didn’t want to somehow compare the debate from 2017 to 2022 emotionally and in terms of posture.
Marine Le Pen was very careful not to show any sign of nervousness. It was her main challenge and she succeeded.
On social networks, viewers were surprised not to see Marine Le Pen take this opportunity to attack Emmanuel Macron on the McKinsey affair. What do you think ?
Social networks do not reflect what public opinion thinks. The French don’t know what McKinsey is. This has not been the subject of major public opinion polling institutes.
If Marine Le Pen did not go looking for him on this ground, it may be because she preferred to talk about her program rather than talking again about Emmanuel Macron on a subject which the French do not have. makes a big deal.
What interests the French is purchasing power, how much will their electricity bill cost them next winter? How much will they spend to put gas in their car? But it’s by no means McKinsey.
Still, the yellow vests crisis or the Benalla affair speak more to the French and Marine Le Pen has not spoken about it either…
If Marine Le Pen attacks her opponent on this, she must expect him to attack her on the money of the European Parliament, for example.
She may not have had an interest in going to attack him on controversies when she is attackable from a judicial point of view.
To come back to the McKinsey case, this is not a campaign issue. If we seek out our adversary on polemics and we have problems with European justice, we do not want the boomerang to come back to us at high speed.
According to a report by the European Union Anti-Fraud Office, Marine Le Pen allegedly embezzled public money. Justice has been seized. However, and until proven otherwise, justice has not been seized on a pseudo-McKinsey case.
On the crisis of yellow vests, she knows perfectly well that she has thrown oil on the fire. There, she would have had to get out of the A4 sheets on the last tweets.
If she did not attack him on sensitive subjects, it was to avoid taking the debate to a field that would have been very favorable to him. She was also lucky that Emmanuel Macron did not go looking for her on this.
Emmanuel Macron has chosen another terrain to disturb Marine Le Pen. It’s about his spending, his Russian loan, and overall his relationship with Russia.
These are facts, and besides, Marine Le Pen has not denied them. Nevertheless, she was not very comfortable and she quickly changed the subject of conversation because when Emmanuel Macron told her that Éric Zemmour had succeeded in financing his campaign through a European bank, she did not continued to play the victim. His rival was much more successful in reversing the roles. He had enough to put his head under water.
When, the day after an inter-round debate, one of the two debaters complains about the way his opponent has physically behaved, such as calling him “contemptuous”, “arrogant” etc., it is in fact that we admit that we were less good on the substance, so we attack it on the form.
Despite all these elements, do you think that she was still able to manage her debate better?
She managed her debate with the weapons in her possession because it is difficult to win a debate against Emmanuel Macron.
Why is it difficult, in your opinion?
Emmanuel Macron sets the bar very high. He is someone who masters his files, who has repartee, who expresses himself in perfect French, who has arguments, who sometimes even uses words that are not in common language. It also takes a long time to respond. It’s hard to get the better of such a personality.
If she had been facing someone else, maybe she could have made her case more. However, when you face someone who masters his files so much, it’s lost in advance.