Can Macron divide and conquer the gilets jaunes?

Emmanuel Macron, the young, dashing president of the Fifth French Republic, is the epitome of what it means to be a card-carrying member of the Paris political elite. The 41 year-old president was ushered through Sciences Po, France’s premier centre of political education and a near requirement for youngsters who aspire to become politicians and policymakers. Upon graduating, he took an inspector job at the finance ministry before jumping into the investment world. Macron’s decision to hitch his stardom to Socialist Party boss Francois Hollande paid off when he was tapped to be the Deputy Secretary-General and then the Minister of Finance. Macron’s world is one of three-piece suits, cocktail dinners, gold-plated tables, spacious offices, and friendships with business moguls, political influencers, and titans of finance.

Macron, in other words, is the human form of everything the Yellow Vest movement sweeping through Paris and other French cities wish to tear down: elitism, political cronyism, arrogance and a permanent political class that mixes personal ambition with the national interest.