When Macron angered French farmers with a plan to cut diesel subsidies as part of the green transition, the Jordan Bardela appeared at the annual Paris agricultural fair, where he was received like a rock star, petting animals and posing for selfies. The images flooded the Internet.
Such moments earned him the nickname “Monsieur Selfie” among his rivals. For his supporters, however, he is the country’s political future. And he is definitely the person who helped her Marina LePen to complete its “facelift”. far right National Alarm in a party that – as opinion polls and electoral results prove – the French now consider to be mainstream. Its appeal to young people is impressive. A poll carried out by Elabe showed that 32% of voters aged between 19 and 34 voted for Bardela’s party on Sunday, while just 5% chose Macron’s party.
With a “polished” profile, serious, measured and read in his public appearances, thus far avoiding major mistakes or blunders, but also with a smile, which makes him approachable, he wins over public opinion, which seems to focus more on his image and their character, and not their positions or whether they have in-depth knowledge of the issues at hand. When the French weekly JDD compiled a list of the 50 most popular personalities in France, Bardela was the only politician included in it.
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A more acceptable version of the xenophobic agenda
French newspapers dedicate dozens of articles to him with titles such as “superstar Bardella”, “the transformation of the extreme right” or “the other face of populism” and “the beautiful trap”. In any case, at a time when public opinion seems to want to punish Emmanuel Macron for his choices, Bardela appears as a new political proposal for the right and not just for the extreme right. The tiredness of public opinion with the agreed agenda and its sometimes obsessive promotion have helped in this regard. This does not mean that his positions are different from Le Pen’s.
“It is as if a fractured France, tired of politics as usual and worried about its future, has suddenly discovered a more acceptable version of the xenophobic agenda long promoted by National Alarm as a direct threat to French democracy. It helped that Bardella was young, had a reassuring style and did not bear the name Le Pen,” comments the New York Times. In a similar vein, the Wall Street Journal notes: “Although Bardella is a protégé of Marine Le Pen, he does not carry the “weight” of his family name. Instead, he made a name for himself on TikTok and other social media platforms, where his videos tend to go viral.”
Pushing the party into the mainstream space
If there’s one thing the 28-year-old politician has achieved so far, it’s to sidestep National Alarm’s dark past, present his own ambitions and firmly push the party into the mainstream. After the Hamas terrorist attack in southern Israel, he participated in a march against anti-Semitism. Recently, in a television interview, he was asked whether Jean-Marie Le Pen – co-founder of the party and father of Marine Le Pen – was anti-Semitic. In the 1980s, Le Pen described the Nazi death camps as a mere “detail” of history – a statement he repeated in 2015. It was one of the reasons why his own daughter closed the party door on him.
“I was born in 1995. You’re talking to me about a time I didn’t live through,” Bardela said, before adding: “I don’t believe Jean-Marie Le Pen is anti-Semitic. But obviously I would never make the comment he made. Because, for me, the horror of the Holocaust is not a detail of history,” she replied.
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The powerful duo
Until now, Bardella and Le Pen form a harmonious duo and maintain a close collaboration. However, the charismatic personality and popularity of the former are such that there is a possibility that the “child prodigy” will overshadow his creator.
At the moment, however, there are no clouds on the horizon. A common goal is to win the positions of prime minister and president as the new powerful duo on the French political scene. With early elections, Emmanuel Macron, in a move of high political risk, seeks to overturn this plan. His mission will not be easy.