Ex-French First Lady Says Hollande Detests Poor in Tell-All Book
By Helene Fouquet Sep 3, 2014 10:32 AM ET
Former French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler tore into President Francois Hollande, saying the Socialist leader despises the poor and calls them “les san-dents,” or “the toothless” in private.
In a 320-page tell-all book entitled “Merci Pour Ce Moment” or “Thanks for the Moment” to be released tomorrow, 49-year-old Trierweiler, who was forced to leave the Elysee presidential palace after Hollande’s affair with a French actress, lists what she says are lies told by the president.
“He likes to come across as a man who doesn’t like the rich,” she writes, according to excerpts published today by the daily Le Monde. “In reality, the president doesn’t like the poor. This the man of the Left, calls them in private ‘the toothless,’ very proud of his brand of humor.”
The book’s publication and the private comments it shares come as Hollande is sliding again in opinion polls. His popularity has fallen back below 20 percent, near France’s historical low for a president. With joblessness rising for three straight years and a government mutiny forcing him to reshuffle his cabinet, revelations about his private life are adding to his political troubles.
“With the release of every new poll, I watched him disintegrate,” Trierweiler wrote. “He needs to find someone to blame for the drop. It could never be him, so it had to be others and me.”
more...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-03/ex-french-first-lady-details-life-with-hollande-in-tell-all-book.html
