He came from nowhere, or rather, he came from the people. He spoke like him, swore like him, suffered with him, at least in words. Then one day, almost by accident, he became President. Since then, he has never stopped moving away.
This parodic chronicle tells less of a man's story than that of a chair: the one that turns promises into embarrassing memories and beliefs into adjustment variables.
Before the elevation: the ordinary man with extraordinary promises
Before power, it was a reassuring simplicity.
He denounced the arrogance of the powerful, promised to put an end to privileges, swore that power was not an end but a service. He was talking about sacrifice, duty, exemplaryness. He promised a modest state, a sober governance, a respected democracy.
He said he was different.
Maybe he was.
But most importantly, he was candidate.
The people, tired of the same faces and disillusionments, wanted to believe it. Because in politics, hope always precedes disappointment.
The Day When Everything Twitches: The Revelation of the Chair
On the day of the inauguration, he sat down.
And in this innocent gesture, almost ceremonial, something cracks.
The chair is wide, enveloping, quiet. It is isolated from the noise of the street, from the screams of anger, from the roughness of the real. It gives the disturbing feeling that the state begins and stops at the one who occupies it.
At this very moment, he understands a truth that his predecessors had never publicly stated: power is not difficult to conquer, it is difficult to leave.
The birth of the court: when the real becomes optional
Very quickly, around him, a court organizes.
Councillors emerge from the shadows, faithful discover a political vocation, intellectuals review their analyses, artists sing the grandeur found. All speak in the same tone: that of the loyalty concerned.
He is protected from the people on the pretext of preserving him.
We filter the information, we reduce anger, we make up failures.
Little by little, the President no longer governs a country, but a narrative : that of an imaginary nation, calmer, more grateful, more docile than the real one.
The great denial: when the promise becomes embarrassing
Campaign promises are beginning to weigh.
They become rhetorical balls that must be rid of with elegance.
It is explained that the context has changed, that reality is more complex, than governing requires pragmatism. Limitation of mandates becomes a "non-priority" issue. The fight against corruption is prudent, targeted and never systemic. The reform of the state is postponed until the next day, which is always postponed.
He discovers a fundamental rule of power: Keeping your word is dangerous, explaining your denial is an art.
Invisible Networks: Real Power
While the people wait, others act with method.
Economic interests are settling down on a sustainable basis. Foreign partners speak of stability more than democracy. Agreements are signed far from the eye, in a technical language that neutralizes any popular indignation.
The President learned that the essentials were not played in speeches, but in margins.
He no longer leads: he arbitrator between forces that exceed him, but on which he depends.
And in this chessboard, the people are no more than an argument, rarely a priority.
Governing is lasting: the obsession of the second term
Barely the first mandate started, the second one sets itself as a single horizon.
Everything is now assessed against this obsession: institutional reforms, strategic appointments, control of the security apparatus, progressive weakening of counter-powers.
Power is no longer a means of acting, but a means of capital to be preserved.
Democracy becomes a decor, useful as long as it does not threaten continuity.
People move away: politics as a permanent imposture
Faced with this spectacle too often repeated, the people tire.
He doesn't believe anymore.
He's turning away.
He observes with cynicism.
Politics becomes a scene where the same roles are played by different actors, but with an identical scenario: promises, denials, justification, renewal.
Disenchantment becomes structural. And this disenchantment feeds all the drifts.
What the chair really reveals
They say the chair is too comfortable. That's right. But it's not essential.
The chair mainly reveals the weakness of institutions, the poverty of safeguards, the absence of real accountability mechanisms. It reveals a system where man counts more than the rule, and where the electoral promise commits only those who believe in it.
This parody chronicle does not accuse a man. She describes a mechanics.
As long as the chair is more powerful than the Constitution, as long as the court takes precedence over the people, denial will remain the norm, and political hope, a fragile parenthesis between two disillusionments.
