If you're seeing in the American press a picture of Macron as having been swept to power on a wave of popular support, that's not quite the story. There's certainly a large amount of relief that Marine Le Pen is not the president, we have to remember whatever is dangerous about Macron, he's not Marine Le Pen. But I think in general people are tired of politics, except for the most mobilized people on either side.

Live from Paris, journalist Jacob Hamburger surveys the French political landscape after Emmanuel Macron's defeat of Marine Le Pen - from Macron's capture of the political center amidst the chaos of a failing party system, to the uncertain prospects for France's nationalist right and socialist left after neoliberalism's overwhelming victory in an underwhelming election.

Jake writes for Charlie Hebdo, a topic he covered in his LA Review of Books essay What Charlie Hebdo Taught Me About Freedom of Speech.

Guest

Jacob Hamburger

@jmhamburger

Jacob Hamburger is a writer based in Paris. He is the editor of Tocqueville 21, a bilingual blog that focuses on contemporary democracy.

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