RIOT AND TUMULT: The Yellow Vests Expose How Fragile Emmanuel Macron’s Hold on France Really Is. “In November, French President Emmanuel Macron stood under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and told world leaders on the centennial of World War I that they needed to work together to solve global problems. Less than a month later, the French leader is trying to find the right phrase to unite his own citizens amid perhaps the worst street violence in Paris in 50 years.”

Perhaps he should have focused more on local problems. When you’re talking about things that won’t happen until the end of the century, it’s hard to hold the loyalty of people who are just trying to make it to the end of the month.