Emmanuel Macron facing Covid-19: A president in search of image repair

Abstract

How can a political leader impose unusual demands in a democracy in the face of Covid-19 when he was already arousing a great deal of mistrust, long before this crisis, because of a distorted image that undermines his legitimacy and authority in the public sphere? This article identifies the discursive steps taken by the French President to repair his image in his first two addresses on the Coronavirus. It shows that his strategies of image repair are indirect and differ from those listed on the subject in scholarly literature. Emmanuel Macron’s objective is to strengthen his weakened legitimacy and build his position of authority. These two concepts are clearly distinguished in the analysis proposed here and are important axes for the re-elaboration of the President’s ethos, whose objective is to increase the confidence of the French in his leadership and in the measures announced to stem the pandemic.