The rhetoric of unpopularity

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This is the quite striking paradox while listening to Jean-François Copé! A few weeks ago, the mayor of Meaux and former president of the UMP pleaded, in vain, for a government agreement between Les Républicains and Emmanuel Macron. Never mind Tuesday, May 31 on franceinfo, he again became very critical of the President of the Republic.

“We’re still lying to peopleassures Jean-François Copé. We’re telling them, we’re going to write you cheques, there was the fuel cheque, then there’s going to be the clothing cheque, then the furnishings cheque… I remind you that all of this doesn’t come out of the blue. I’m certainly going to be heavily criticized for what I say, you can’t just write checks. I understand that we can be a little more unpopular by saying what I tell you. I know that what I am telling you is the opposite of everything that is said. Above all, we must not say that, we are in absolute taboo. What panache! Despite the criticism, despite the unpopularity, despite even the absolute taboos: Jean François Copé assumes, therefore, not to want to take out the checkbook!

These statements can leave a little skeptical. On the one hand, Jean-François Copé strictly breaks no taboo. Refusing one-off aid, instead lowering production taxes in the hope that this will lead to wage increases, that was just Valérie Pécresse’s program. We have seen more iconoclasts, all the same… And above all, all this rhetoric of unpopularity courageously assumed, it is in fact a commonplace of politics. Take for example, Édouard Philippe, former Prime Minister, who also came from the Republicans. This is how, in June 2018, at the National Assembly, he defended the lowering of speed limits from 90 to 80 km/h: “All the measures taken in terms of road safety have been unpopular. I remember all too well the reactions under Prime Minister Raffarin when the development of speed cameras was put in place. Terribly unpopular and yet it produced results. Well we We have to go down this path. It’s hard to accept the idea of ​​not being completely popular when we think it’s having an effect.”

We must accept, assume and even claim the idea of ​​not being popular. We are in exactly the same rhetoric… and it’s not over! “When we seek power, declared the head of state himself, Emmanuel Macron, in April 2019, at the end of the crisis of yellow vests. When it is obtained by the confidence of the people. We agree to have the share of anger that goes with it. To lead today in a democracy, whatever the country, is to accept not being popular. And I prefer to be responsible, to keep my commitments, to make the decisions that I believe are good with the government for our country and to be unpopular. Rather than seeking to seduce, a way that would always be ephemeral.” Emmanuel Macron also assumes to take unpopular decisions, because he believes that they are in the interest of the country. Jean-François Copé’s panache therefore boils down, basically, to recycling an old cliché.

On the form, it’s simple: it’s a rhetoric of posture. The objective for politicians is to work on their ethos, that is to say the image they project of themselves. In this case, an image of courage, bravery and sincerity. The courage to not be popular. The bravery to face public opinion. And the sincerity to follow their convictions. Hence this paradox: claiming unpopularity is in fact an excellent way to make yourself popular!

But this rhetoric has deeper consequences. It makes it possible to confer on a measure the appearance of the irremediable. After all, if a political leader pleads for a decision which is not in the interest of his re-election, it is necessarily that it must be in the sense of the general interest, right? So, maybe yes… But not necessarily! Remember, once again, that politics is a matter of choice and balance of power. Any measure will always have winners and losers. And precisely: if a measure makes you unpopular with a large majority of French people, it may be because it is for the benefit… of a very small minority of them!


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