With voting intentions down – 11% on March 7 -, Eric Zemmour intends to raise his popularity rating with the perfect place for that, Jean Lassalle knows it very well: the agricultural centre. However, it is the war in Ukraine which still monopolizes the media and public opinion and the presidential candidate cannot therefore avoid addressing this subject on which his position is delicate because of his pro-Putin statements in the past. The far-right politician is therefore destabilized when he is questioned about the conflict and then has his suspenders pulled up by his campaign manager and companion, Sarah Knafo.
This Friday, March 4, Éric Zemmour was therefore delighted to meet the agricultural and rural environment that he regularly praises. But if he appreciates goat’s cheese, the journalists don’t hear it that way and want to ask him about the situation between Ukraine and Russia. He then explains that the war “distracts us from the real clash of civilizations“. A formulation that surprises and that he then specifies: “Yes, distracted, distraction, in the philosophical sense. (…) That is to say that our fundamental problems are in the south, they are not in the east.“
Then, advancing on his way, he is taken back by his partner Sarah Knafo, in charge of the strategy of his campaign and personal coach who has guided him since the beginning of his campaign. Their conversation is picked up by the microphones of Quotidien: “Distraction… Right, you have to rectify. You just say, ‘Excuse me, what I meant to say is divert attention‘.“Neither one nor two, Eric Zemmour complies and corrects his remarks in front of the media:”So yes, […] when I say ‘distracted’ I meant ‘divert the attention’. It is the war that diverts attention from major issues for France for the next five years. According to him, France would be “geostrategically drawn to the East.“
A presidential campaign, especially when it approaches the home stretch – the first round takes place on April 10 – is not a long calm river. The former columnist is well aware of this and he continues his momentum, relying in particular on the rallying with great fanfare of Marion Maréchal. He must also deal with other legal attacks. He was sentenced by the Paris court to pay €700,000 to the plaintiffs of his campaign video which used many excerpts from artistic works without prior request. This is in addition to his conviction for “incitement to racial discrimination” in 2011, “incitement to religious hatred” in 2018, and, “provocation to hatred and violence” on January 17, he is also at the heart of the investigation of Mediapart which has just been revealed:For several months, Mediapart has collected the testimony of 8 women who accuse Éric Zemmour of inappropriate behavior and sexual assault for alleged facts ranging from 1999 to 2019. Some speak in front of the camera for the first time“, writes the site on Twitter.