Coronavirus: Emmanuel Macron's communication worries his own camp

It's a grumbling that rises in the very heart of the macronie: is the president in his right place in the fight against the Covid-19? Some of his followers wonder. His communication strategy, both warlord over the fray, Clemenceau style, and closer to the ground with sometimes technical statements, surprised some of his relatives. When it does not arouse real anger in the ranks, where it is deemed "not audible".

"His word wears out, he talks too much! "Fears a regular at the Elysee Palace, while the head of state has moved six times since the end of February in hospitals, an Ehpad or a mask manufacturing factory last Tuesday near Angers. "The next time he speaks, it must be to say strong things. What was he doing in this factory with his mask on his nose? Fumes an old friend.

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"He is not himself. He is not General de Gaulle ”, continues a government communicator. Another, under the cover of strict anonymity, even made himself scathing: “His problem is that he adores disguises: in the military, in aviator, etc. The French should not end up believing that he disguised himself as president! "

"He can't find his place"

It is the choice of the word "war", pronounced seven times in his televised address on March 16 that raises questions, in particular. "It is a plague, not a war," corrects an elder of the palace. Head of the MCBG Conseil agency, the communicator Philippe Moreau-Chevrolet sums up the equation: “He can't find his place in the system. He left on a wrong track with the war communication, which does not correspond to reality. This creates a mismatch between a president who is at war and a country that is at home, without enough equipment to provide his own protection. Suddenly, it seems a little satellite next to the very concrete, and very medical, speech of the Philippe-Véran-Salomon trio. The President is waging a strange war: he is waging it all alone. "

At the Elysée, we assume 100% this strategy, which sees the president thinking about the "world of tomorrow" while picking up his laptop to summon the CEO of La Poste to reopen his offices. "It is struggling and multiplying on all fronts," says a strategist, for whom his mission is both to "put the state in working order" and "to support society in the test" in a a moment worthy of "exceptional periods".

Close to Emmanuel Macron, government spokesperson Sibeth Ndiaye abounds: his role is "both to steer the response, to be in anticipation of the end of the crisis and he is the one who, elected by universal suffrage , must be in close proximity to our fellow citizens. " “He is both authority and proximity. He is the shield of the Nation ”, completes a member of the very first circle.

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For the time being, the president's popularity rating is experiencing a clear rebound, first in his electoral base (well-off categories, retired people and right-wing voters). A mechanical reflex of fusion around the figure of the Head of State in times of crisis? Before him, Mitterrand with the Gulf War in 1991, Jacques Chirac with the "no" to that of Iraq in 2003, Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008 in the face of the financial crisis and François Hollande with the attacks of 2015 had all experienced significant revivals in polls, but still fleeting.

If he was cloistered, "we would be asked if he is not sick!"

More worrying for the executive, several opinion polls show that the French, by a small majority, do not trust it to face this crisis and are convinced that information has been hidden from them. "We told people that we should not put on masks, we stuffed the slack! Recognizes, with great regret, a historic macronist.

Emmanuel Macron intends, for his part, to continue to go to the field. He has defined a dozen potential trips, in which he draws according to the message he wants to deliver, often deciding at the last minute, instinctively, as the situation is fluid. "At the moment, you have to be agile," he told relatives. One of them defends: "We would see him cloistered at the Elysee Palace or only in meetings, the French could legitimately wonder what he does with his days. We would then be asked if he is not sick! "

As for his next television intervention, it would not be stalled at this stage. "When we see more clearly on the effects of confinement on the curve" of the number of people infected, specifies his entourage. At this stage, concludes an intimate of the president, "we are in a false dish, in a moment which is perhaps the most difficult for the French".