“Justice, fair heaven!” I am lost, I am murdered…”, exclaims Harpagon in a scene from L’Avare. Nicolas Sarkozy and Donald Trump could have been inspired by the famous monologue of Molière’s play, they who, despite serious accusations, have never ceased to question the justice of their country, pleading for a perfectly inappropriate victimization… Outrageous!
Corruption and influence peddling, illegal election campaign financing, criminal conspiracy for one, conspiracy against the state apparatus, calling for an uprising, possession of classified documents for the other: serious charges for these two former heads of state, knowing that they are far from having finished with the justice of their respective countries.
Thus, the former President of the Republic will be tried in 2025 in the context of suspicions of Libyan financing of his 2007 campaign, while the former American President, who is the subject of a fourth indictment for having attempted to manipulate the results of the 2020 presidential election, was recently arrested in Atlanta, before being released on bail.
In the meantime, life goes on. A book of memories – Le Temps des combats (Fayard, 2023) – for one, a widely distributed criminal identity photo for the other… Nothing and no one seems to reach them, putting a strain on what could look like extraordinary personalities, most often in denial and excess.
Without requiring a certificate of good conduct from the contenders for the supreme office, we are still entitled to expect them to show a minimum of probity. Gradually, the highest function of the state has become trivialized, sometimes to the point of caricature, by copying the mores of the time when the triumphant “me” reigns.
The providential man does not exist, especially in politics, it would be good if those who seek the votes of the citizens begin by doing their examination of conscience and try to behave irreproachably, whatever the circumstances. But this speech still looks too much like wishful thinking, because, whatever happens, we will undoubtedly have to take into account the human condition, with its share of uncertainties!
Claude Gisselbrecht, Metz
