Macron's Gamble

Three weeks have passed since Macron got a mere 15% support for himself in the first round of the French elections. Yet he's acting as if he's king, with massive support. His latest draconian measures, to be put into effect on August 1, makes him effectively a supreme leader. But when did a dictator ever come into power, without dire consequences for himself, with a mere 15% grass root support?

I know of one man who tried this, and it didn't end well. Vidkun Quisling thought himself supreme ruler of the Norwegian people during the Nazi occupation of Norway from 1940 to 1944. His rule was ineffective and miserable, with constant need of support from his German handlers, and his life ended before a firing squad shortly after the war was over.

Macron is playing with fire, which brings us to a key question. Why this eagerness to go full totalitarian at a time when there's so little support? The odds of success are not in his favour, and the consequences may be dire. What is he personally gaining from this?

I can see no answer to this other than the possibility that Macron isn't really in charge of anything. He's merely a puppet doing whatever his handlers tell him to do. Someone has serious dirt on the man. Hence, his eagerness to engage in high stake poker with a mediocre set of cards. The man has no choice but to comply. The alternative appears to be death. Why else risk an encounter with a mob that has a history of ending the lives of their adversaries?

Portrait of Louis XIV

By Hyacinthe Rigaud - wartburg.edu[dead link], Public Domain, Link