His instincts, too, run counter to the temper of the times. He’s a centralizer in a centrifugal age, for example. He has said that he aspires to a “Jupiterian” presidency—actually to increase the distance between power and the public.45 He chose Versailles Palace, rococo backdrop to the Sun King, for his first important speech. While the Olympian style may have served Charles de Gaulle well, it is unlikely to be taken seriously on Twitter or Facebook. Macron is clearly tempted by the crown of the decaying empire: that is, by the ambition to become the next Angela Merkel. That way, it seems to
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