The French Surrender: Is Macron The Right Choice?

Tyler Salk

Let’s go over some stereotypes of French people. They drink wine. They eat cheese. Nothing wrong with those, but one that could be seen as negative is the French surrendering. Do I think this stereotype is always the case? Of course not, the only stereotype I know to be true is that every show on 990 is worth a listen. However after the latest election, I feel like this is the case.

Am I an expert on France? On world politics? Absolutely not, however I have an understanding of what is going on in the world. The number one threat to peace is the Islamic State. While mostly centered to the Middle East, we see ISIS claim credit for attacks all over the world. Over the past few years, no first or second world country has taken the abuse from international terrorism like France.

I understand that the economy in Europe is not at it’s strongest right now. Jobs are important. Quality of life is important. However the people with the best jobs and the worst jobs can all be exposed to terrorism with zero control over it. Their lives could be in danger. Even as security measures have been stepped up, terrorism has been on the rise in France. Despite claims to be fighting it, an alarming number of attacks are still happening. If I am running for the presidency, that is the number one issue.

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On Sunday, while we were celebrating our mothers, France decided to celebrate something else. A new president. Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated as the newest President, replacing Francois Hollande. Hollande saw France lose its dignity as ISIS linked terrorists took over. His views are socialist, and we have seen how a socialist economy works. While their economy was going down, Macron spent two years as the economy minister under Hollande’s regime.

When we look at the state of the European economy and the debt crisis of the EU, we know that the economic advisors of all countries are not doing their jobs the way the people would like them to. If we pretend that terrorism is not the biggest threat to the French way of life, the way he ran his post did not benefit the country. While the monetary debt of France is significantly less than that of the United States, their figures are still alarming. It is not solely Macron’s fault, however he needs to be held accountable.

Focusing back on the major issue, Macron is not as far to the left as Hollande was. Socially, he still stands that way. We see here in America that our left does not like to tell anyone they are not welcomed. This is the case worldwide, and we saw Hollande, Macron and the French regime allow Syrian refugees into their country. At a time where France has seen too many recent deaths due to terrorism, you would expect them to be less trustworthy and put their own people first to ensure their safety.

When the people are in trouble, it is the leader’s duty to help, and attempt to prevent problems. With terrorism causing France to be in a state of emergency for over a year, you would imagine the people would want a leader that would want to fight for them. Macron is not confident in his abilities to thwart terrorism. He said “terrorism in the country was an imponderable threat that will be a fact of daily life in the coming years.” This supposed leader campaigned telling people that he would not be able to stop terrorism. While honesty might be a good leadership quality, pessimism is not. If he admittedly cannot solve France’s number one problem, how can he serve as their president? If he is surrendering already, admitting defeat, how can he be trusted? How can he be seen as reliable? How can he fix France? A man has been elected into office with not enough of a plan.

France surrenders their presidency quickly after the election. Trump had over two months to prepare before officially being inaugurated, Macron had a week. He did not have enough time as an elected official to seek consultants, to do his research after the campaign to fill top positions. Seven days is not enough time to figure out the solutions of problems. This is not Macron’s fault, we cannot expect anyone to go from being a candidate to filling a position this important on a week’s notice and be ready. He does not have the time to think of a plan to solve France’s terrorism problem.

They are in serious trouble.

France is our ally, we are in trouble.

​Macron is not the right man for this job.

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