Hoaxes and hoaxes

Many things have changed in France for a transphobic hoax to be used as electoral ammunition. The hoax in question affects the first lady, Brigitte Macron, and according to him, the president's wife would originally be a man named Jean-Michel Trogneux, before having changed their sex. Beyond mere gossip, the episode reveals a more general background. The Trumpist drift in French political life caused by the far right would be the most important of them, especially if the 2022 presidential elections end up embroiled in perverse conspiracy theories, as has happened with the last two Americans. The similarities produce a certain chill. It is about a hoax launched by a woman, Natacha Rey, closely linked to anti-Semitic and anti-vaccine groups,and to QAnon circles and the conspiracy theory created by the American extreme right during the term of Donald Trump. After being broadcast on YouTube, it follows the same sequence followed by the accusation made to Hillary Clinton in 2016 about her alleged involvement in the

- the hoax about a pedophile ring related to a Washington pizzeria - and ratifies the stigmatization applied by the far right in particular to public women: the same hoax that affects Brigitte Macron today affected Michelle Obama and Jacinda Ardern in 2018 .

The strategy on which the hoax of the far right revolves is well known: to show the moral aberration and the decline of the values ​​of the elites. What happens in France indicates the degree of Trumpism that is progressively transforming his political life. Macron himself was the victim of another rumor in the 2017 presidential elections when there was talk of his possible homosexuality in a very tolerant country. At that time, Macron reacted correctly by pointing out that he would not have to hide something like his homosexuality if it were true, although the fact that his marriage to a woman 24 years older than him is the focus of so many attacks gives off a strong macho stench. This time,The lawsuit that Brigitte Macron has presented has had the immediate consequence that the lie has gained in media coverage and has reached a disproportionate weight in social networks. It thus does a disservice to the quality of the public conversation of a democracy on the eve of a presidential election in which two far-right candidates have options to advance to the second round.

The visibility of the marginal theses launched by the ultra-right is not only achieved with the algorithms of digital platforms.

France must prepare for a tough and dirty campaign, including the paranoid circulation, instigated by Francophone supporters of QAnon, of conspiracy theories about electoral fraud.

It is a very serious threat and the debate on what is the best response remains open beyond legal actions to combat a hoax on the sexual identity of the first lady.

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Brigitte Macron, the new victim of hoaxes