"Nothing surprises me. I was prepared to undergo this violence ”, he breathes with this eternal little pinched smile, which one always wonders if it is forced or natural. But last July, when the party officially gave him the nomination to lead the list to Paris, Benjamin Griveaux really knew what galley he was going to get into?
" Honestly, no. And there, we are almost already at the foot of the wall, “worries support from the first hour. And seen from the presidential party, the Parisian campaign is already akin to the Stations of the Cross: “It is still the city that voted the most for Macron in 2017. But here, we have the impression that everything is in the process to spin us between the legs… ”, sighs a high ranking member of En Marche.
It must be said that Griveaux faces headwinds: surveys at half mast - he is third behind Anne Hidalgo and Rachida Dati -, a dissidence with Cédric Villani who rots his campaign a little more every day, and a candidacy which still suffers from a not too well known. At the Elysée Palace, Emmanuel Macron himself questioned himself for a long time. Support Griveaux or Villani? “He was never completely convinced by Benjamin. That's why he waited a long time before getting involved. ”
A slightly smooth ideal gender
Up to the obvious. "We made a cross on the municipal [...] And Paris, it's almost mission impossible," asserts an evening visitor to the Palace, still skeptical about the mediation attempt launched last Sunday by the president so that Cédric Villani gets closer by Benjamin Griveaux. A fiasco. But the former government spokesperson still sees a positive point in his favor: "At least, he clearly raised doubts, faced with those who fed a fake soap opera on his support," he reassures himself. .
Let it be said: Griveaux does not admit defeat. In front of those who accuse him of being the losing machine, he redoubles his energy and shock proposals to give a boost. In recent weeks, several members of the government have even joined its lists. This is particularly the case of Marlène Schiappa in the 14th century. As for Agnès Buzyn… she still lets the suspense hover. And in front of those who reproach him for his monotone tone, his sometimes brittle shortcomings and his appearance of ideal gender, a little smooth, he now intends to indulge more.
Like his meeting Monday evening at the Bobino theater, where he indulged in secrets, something rare at home, evoking in front of the public his "anxieties", personal "dramas" and his "shell" forged for protect oneself from the "violence of political life". Some have seen it as a worn out tactic two months from the municipal elections. He doesn't care as much. He knows what he has experienced, but he will not go further in the disclosure, out of respect for his own. “All the injuries we have in life give us solidity. He was struck by lightning in the face, "says MP LREM Olivia Grégoire.
Split armor
Monday evening, this great modesty was done violence. A strategy that annoys even in his camp. "But what has been difficult, Benjamin?" He is a gifted kid who we gave everything to! It's like when Sarko said: I changed . But do you think we are changing? Never ! “, Storms an important macronist. Since the end of the summer, his team had been tanning him so that he would finally split this armor. Several have weighed in this direction, notably his friend Sibeth Ndiaye. And Olivia Grégoire, omnipresent, also dented by life. "Do you think I would have joined him if it weren't for someone with values?" ", She argues.
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For the advisor, Griveaux also brought back an old friend from rue de la Planche (7th), named after the conspirators who supported Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Ismaël Emelien. Having left the Elysée Palace, the former special adviser to Emmanuel Macron gives him a helping hand. “Isma”, as he calls it, was a key cog in the 2017 victory. Griveaux now dreams that he will repeat the feat.
