The campaign of Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour has again been hit by the war in Ukraine, since the revelation of the atrocities committed by the Russian army in Boutcha. And this dilemma: how to manage to forget the old proximities with Vladimir Putin?
Recall that last February, the candidate of the National Rally (RN) was still proud to print, on a campaign leaflet, a photo of her alongside the Russian president. As for Éric Zemmour, he has never hidden his admiration for the Russian dictator, going so far as to declare, in September 2018: “I dream of a French Poutine.”
Embarrassing archives, both of which have already been explained. But today, the horrors of Boutcha once again disrupt their campaign. Marine Le Pen, Thursday March 31 on the Elysée 2022 plateau, on France 2, answered a question posed by Léa Salamé: “If the war ends in Ukraine tomorrow, can Vladimir Putin once again become an ally of France?”. The candidate gave a clear answer: “Yes, of course, it depends on the terrain. I’ve always said it: a great power can be at the same time an ally of a certain number of territories or an enemy or a competitor.”
Even after committing war crimes? Tuesday April 5, on France Inter, the tone was a little different. “The reality is that the question was posed that way but, in my mind, it was Russia I was talking aboutshe said. The question is: ‘Do we consider that ad vitam æternam, Russia should no longer be the subject of any discussion? People who have committed war crimes cannot rejoin the community of nations.”
.@MLP_Official “The UN must go on the ground, in Ukraine, for there to be an investigation, to determine who are responsible for these war crimes. When unarmed civilians are murdered in this way, it is is a war crime.” #le79Inter #Elysee2022 pic.twitter.com/p1hjvYFsZA
– France Inter (@franceinter) April 5, 2022
If Marine Le Pen answers questions different from those put to her, she can hardly be held responsible for her comments.
Is it dishonest? What we can say at least is that she uses here an authentic rhetorical device, documented for a long time since we find it in the classic work of Arthur Schopenhauer, The art of always being right. This is Stratagem 17: “Defend yourself by splitting hairs. If the opponent puts us in difficulty, it is often possible to save yourself by establishing a fine distinction that we had not thought of before.”
That’s exactly what Marine Le Pen is doing here, saying she wasn’t talking about Putin but about Russia. The fact is that, Thursday, March 31, other candidates had been much more cautious than her: proof, perhaps, that her pro-Putin tropism has not completely disappeared.
On franceinfo, Monday April 4, Éric Zemmour was also questioned about the images that came to us from Boutcha. “It’s an unbearable, despicable crime, but in addition, for him, it’s really tarnishing the image of Russia, I don’t understand”, he replied. A rare admission from the mouth of the far-right candidate.
War in Ukraine and situation in Boutcha ➡️ “I would say to Vladimir Poutine that it is heinous, criminal, infamous and that it tarnishes the image of his country”, declares Eric Zemmour. “I said it from the start: the Russians at war are capable of the worst horrors.” pic.twitter.com/mT2ycU2GUf
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) April 4, 2022
Note that what he does not understand is the fact that Vladimir Putin could have committed acts that harm the image of Russia. We find the theory that he has actually defended for years, according to which the Russian autocrat is above all a defender of the greatness of Russia. There too, the old tropisms have not necessarily disappeared. What disappears quite quickly, on the other hand… is his position of humility. “It’s horrible, but I said it from the beginning: ‘The Russians, when they are at war, are capable of the worst horrors, of the craziest violencehe retorted. When Napoleon defeated them, they burned their capital so as not to leave it to him. I said that from the start.”
No, he was not mistaken! Let us remember that just a few days before the start of the Russian offensive, he still said he did not believe it. But that’s not what he’s talking about here: he’s talking about the cruelty of the Russian people during the war, and he warned him about that. In rhetoric, this is again a stratagem: relying on a point of detail to proclaim that we are right when everything else proves us wrong. As for the substance of the argument, it rests on an essentialization of the Russian people, which would be intrinsically and irreducibly cruel. We let everyone judge its relevance.
Obviously, Marine Le Pen and Éric Zemmour are ready for any scheme to try to make people forget their former benevolence towards Vladimir Poutine.