HOW DRU CATCH SEES IT

A Curfew That Forgot to Include an Address

Sebastien Lecornu's playbook after a weekend of riots is a masterclass in doing two things at once that cancel each other out: telling the country your determination to restore order is "absolute" while simultaneously refusing to say where, when, or how the curfews you just ordered will actually work. Partial curfews, localised curfews, no details. It's the governmental equivalent of locking one window while leaving the front door wide open and blaming the draft on the neighbors.

Pick the Scapegoat With the Smallest PR Budget

The blame-the-far-left maneuver is the real gem here. Weeks of student demonstrations, a weak economy, surging debt, and nationwide anti-government protests don't happen because a Marxist book club sent out a group text. When the pressure builds from six directions and your response is to point at one corner of the room and say "them," you're not diagnosing the problem - you're picking the scapegoat with the least PR budget. Far-left groups are a convenient villain precisely because they'll never hire the same crisis communications firm.

Ordering the Salad While Keeping Every Authoritarian Entree on the Menu

And the timeline is gorgeous: Lecornu won't impose a blanket curfew but won't rule out a state of emergency. That's not escalation management. That's keeping every authoritarian option on the menu while pretending to order the salad. French unions have already called a new round of strikes for November 5. The economy is limping, the election is six months out, and the prime minister's plan is a curfew with no details and a finger pointed left. If this is absolute determination, the word "absolute" needs a localised curfew of its own.