moisi131_Bertrand Guay_AFP_Getty Images_Sarkozy Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images

Sarkozy’s Campaign of Fear

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to seek the presidency again in 2017, and his emphasis on the supposed threat of Islam to national identity, should not be surprising. Fear is a powerful weapon, and Sarkozy, like Donald Trump, is eager to wield it.

PARIS – Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s announcement that he will seek the presidency again in 2017 should come as no surprise. Indeed, it was hard to take seriously his declaration, following his loss to the Socialist Party’s François Hollande in the 2012 race, that he was done with politics. Whatever you think about Sarkozy, there is no denying that he has never been one to stay out of the spotlight for long.

The truth is that Sarkozy never really accepted his defeat. Like Germany after World War I, he instead became consumed with a desire for revenge, compounded by his long-held and poorly hidden lust for power.

Now, emboldened by Hollande’s unpopularity, Sarkozy seems to think that the French are ready to welcome him back. Instead of fretting about his own bad reputation, still reflected in public-opinion polls, he seems to be fantasizing about a repeat of the 2007 election, when he triumphed easily over the Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal, Hollande’s former partner.

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