Marine Le Pen will take the stage in Orléans on Sunday, October 25, with a speech deliberately unlike her recent appearance in her Hénin-Beaumont constituency, where she focused on housing. This time, the National Rally (RN) candidate intends to deliver a far more political and general address, built around three pillars: renaissance — her campaign slogan — power, and her vision of the presidency.
In private, the four-time presidential candidate says she wants to inject a measure of optimism into a chaotic world. According to her entourage, she has planned an entire section on the right of the French people to access beauty. The result promises to be a highly conceptual speech, even at the risk of appearing somewhat disconnected from current events.
Taking the High Ground
Le Pen is unapologetic about rising above the crises the country is navigating. She is convinced, she says, that the battle over diagnosis is already won and that everyone now agrees with the RN’s assessment of France’s problems.
Does the RN candidate already see herself at the Élysée? In any case, she has fully slipped into the frontrunner’s costume and is entering the campaign in earnest. To keep her hands free, she handed the reins of her parliamentary group to MP Sébastien Chenu over the weekend.
Le Pen describes herself as “optimistic” in private — as if the wave of violence sweeping the country had handed her a decisive advantage. “We were right about everything,” her entourage boasts, welcoming the massive deployment of security forces over the weekend, including to secure the RN’s own congress.
A “Revealer” for the French
Speaking to journalists, Le Pen framed the recent unrest as a “revealer” for the French public. The RN further claims that 5,000 people have joined the party since the riots of October 17 — a figure that cannot be verified.
Yet her camp is wary of overconfidence. The four-time candidate is fond of saying that even an overwhelming favorite must campaign like a challenger, because nothing is ever guaranteed. One of her closest advisers sums up the approach with a single phrase: “It’s her tranquil force side,” a reference to François Mitterrand’s 1981 campaign slogan.
- Message: A conceptual address on “renaissance,” power and the presidency, with an emphasis on optimism and the right to beauty.
- Posture: Frontrunner in costume, but campaigning as a challenger to guard against complacency.
- Context: The RN argues recent violence vindicates its diagnosis and has boosted membership — claims that remain unverified.
