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ment to detonate full force. Unlike the other popular
revolts that have periodically rocked France in past
decades, this one was not organized by any labor or
student organization; it mushroomed leaderless on
Facebook, then ricocheted across the country, with
protesters battling police, smashing storefronts and
burning barricades for months on end.
By December, Macron’s popularity had shrunk to
about 23%, forcing him to make a chastened retreat
from his fuel tax and commit an additional $11 billion
to social benefits. With his ambitious reform agenda
on the line, Macron decided to launch a monthslong
listening tour through the heartland—what he called
a grand débat, or big debate. It grew out of what he
learned from the street violence, he says —that he
was too disconnected from the average French per-
son. “My challenge is to listen to people much bet-
ter than I did at the very beginning,” he says now.
His town-hall meetings across France seem to
have rescued his presidency. Macron’s popularity
now sits between 34% and 43%, up nearly 10 points
from January. Although the Yellow Vests have re-
sumed their Saturday street battles with police after
a summer break, their numbers have shrunk.
The supreme confidence is still here. But in a shift
from TIME’s last meeting with Macron in 2017, he
was relaxed and informal. In his shirtsleeves, he
leaned back and reflected at length on his tumultuous
time in office and what might lie ahead. He hardly
looked like a man who had weathered one of the
most violent years in modern France, with Yellow
Vests protesters hurling vitriol at him—yet friends
say he suffered behind the scenes. “There have
been moments, very tough, especially on a personal^
Macron holds
a meeting
with senior
advisers at
the Élysée