His memory has faded. However, there are candidates who seek to resurrect it, such as the leader of the Debout la France movement, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, in the race for the third time. He had obtained 1.7% in 2012, 4.7% five years ago. It is stagnating today around 2% of voting intentions in the polls.
To be heard and survive competition from Eric Zemmour, Dupont-Aignan has continued to radicalize. He left the shores of sovereignism to line up resolutely on the far right. He had already joined Marine Le Pen in the second round in 2017 and this time received the support of the former right arm of the boss of the RN, Florian Philippot. And the two accomplices seek to revive the memory of the “yellow vests” allegedly victims of the state.
Against the scientific evidence, he continues to weave the praises of hydroxychloroquine and the whimsical Professor Raoult and he has no words harsh enough to castigate the “sanitary dictatorship”. Dupont-Aignan has just called for the creation of a commission of inquiry into the side effects of the anti-Covid vaccine, he promises to abolish the vaccination pass and even to include in the Constitution the prohibition of confinement. An absurd idea, no one knows if in the future another pandemic will not force another power to take a similar decision.
But the deputy of Essonne does not budge: he takes almost seditious accents to defend the anti-vax and all the “small”, oppressed by the “big”. Basically, Nicolas Dupont-Aignan has become the spokesperson for urban conspiracy.
Candidate for the second time, 1.2% in 2017, the deputy of Pyrénées-Atlantiques sports a friendly face, a certain eloquence, he defends those he calls the “forgotten”, the inhabitants of rural areas. But he willingly pours into the most radical populism. He defends a “Authentic France” against another which would be artificial. He wants to put a “press kick” and “a kick in the political ass” !
Like Nicolas Dupont-Aignan, Jean Lassalle repeats that we live in a “dictatorship” and the election is “completely rigged”. Dupont-Aignan and Lassalle, the two sides of this conspiracy of the time, noisy in the street and on social networks but, for the time being, still weak at the bottom of the ballot box.