Shaking up his agenda to launch his electoral campaign, Eric Zemmour officially announced his candidacy for the 2022 presidential elections on November 30, 2021, turning the page to a series of hiccups and criticisms of his pre-campaign. The far-right polemicist therefore unveiled a video, clearly inspired by General de Gaulle’s appeal of June 18 and composed of shocking and violent images, and posted it on social networks. The day of his declaration of candidacy, he chose to come on the set of the television news of TF1 at 8 p.m. to discuss it. An intervention marked by his annoyance visible in front of Gilles Bouleau, reproaching him for not having been able to speak about his political project.
During his interview on TF1 which lasted about ten minutes, Eric Zemmour returned to his pre-campaign. Does it exacerbate tensions? “History proved me right“, proclaims the former journalist of Figaro and CNews. If he assumes his obvious reference to General de Gaulle and the staging of his video, he specifies that other references are present. Having used extracts without having the rights to them in his video, a clumsiness asks the presenter? The essayist brushes aside these criticisms with one hand, calling them legal quarrels: “I don’t take care of that.“
The tension of the presidential candidate is palpable when asked about his lack of composure, remarkable from his middle finger in Marseille, mirror response to a passerby insulting him during his trip. He believes he was harassed for 24 hours in the Phocaean city, which according to him is justified by the inelegance of his gesture, then he will close the subject by declaring: “Are you going to ask this question to Emmanuel Macron ? (…) We gave him a middle finger, it’s worse. (…) We’re not going to spend the whole interview on it.“
After having mentioned the necessary sponsorships – he estimates to have between 250 and 300, Eric Zemmour reacts on the figure of Josephine Baker, having chosen to officially stand as a candidate on the day of her pantheonization, he emphasizes that she had a French first name, allusion to the controversy he had initiated against Hapsatou Sy, and claims that she is a model of assimilation that he wants to find.
Asked about his convictions for incitement to hatred, the choice of the Prime Minister, his relationship with women and Muslims in France, the politician advised by the controversial Sarah Knafo recalled that he is no longer a writer, but a man vying for the presidential elections. The interview ends with Gilles Bouleau but the candidate cuts him off: “I just find that there were no questions about my project, I regret it (…) It’s now or never. “To which his interlocutor replies:”Part of our interview dealt with your program.“Eric Zemmour refutes it:”It seems to me that no. “