VIDEO. Why does Dominique de Villepin get so many views on networks whenever he speaks?

It’s systematic. As soon as Dominique de Villepin appears in the media, he breaks viewing records on networks. An unexpected success for a man who is now an international lawyer. De Villepin received an important response during his historic 2003 speech at the United Nations. Then-foreign minister under Jacques Chirac, he became France’s standard-bearer for refusing to follow the United States in its military operation in Iraq. But why such a big success twenty years later? “He is a specialist in international affairs, he has a certain growth and analysis that does not get bogged down by domestic politics. And then he is the heir of Gaullism. His speech is not the June 18 address, but it is something like it. De Villepin has a heroic side,” analyzes Daniel Garrigues, a former UMP deputy. In fact, from every TV or radio appearance he makes, clips are massively viewed and followed on social media. Sometimes accompanied by epic music worthy of the greatest adventure films.

The former prime minister is known (and especially appreciated by some citizens) for his unfiltered interventions and his positions, sometimes at odds with those of the rest of the political class. He recently entered controversy over comments considered anti-Semitic in Quotidien, which he then defended. Charismatic, elegant, and at times caricature-like, De Villepin even inspired the successful comic book series Quai d’Orsay.