They were almost invariably anti-Semitic. Catholic conservatives and right-wing intellectuals, who hated the secular republic that emerged from the revolution, have long fulminated against liberals, cosmopolitans, immigrants, and other enemies of their idea of a society based on ethnic purity, obedience to the church, and family values. Zemmour’s way of thinking stems from a tradition going back to the French Revolution of 1789. Polls suggest that he might get as much as 16% of the vote in next year’s presidential election.
His book, The French Suicide, published in 2014, sold more than a half-million copies in France. Zemmour has been sentenced twice already for racial discrimination and inciting hatred.
