Sarkozy’s astonishing about-face on the far right

Before 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy distanced himself from President Jacques Chirac, whose succession he was seeking, under the slogan “La Rupture” (“The Break”). Nearly 20 years later, a different, deeper and more serious break with his former mentor is at stake.

At the Elysée, Chirac had made a point of maintaining a strict separation between the right and the far right. In 2002, he even refused to debate Jean-Marie Le Pen, who had reached the second round of the presidential election, to avoid legitimizing far-right ideas: “In the face of intolerance and hatred,…