There was a time when Alain Minc would sing the praises of French President Emmanuel Macron, comparing him to Napoleon’s generals: an extraordinary being blessed both with talent and luck, writes POLITICO.

“Fast-forward eight years and Minc, Macron’s former mentor and an influential political adviser, now says he’s the “worst” president since France’s Fifth Republic was founded in 1958. Minc says the president’s narcissism has driven him to make reckless decisions that “imperiled French institutions” and boosted the far right ahead of the 2027 presidential election. “Macron is leaving the country in a much worse state that when he took the reins of power,” Minc said in an interview with POLITICO. “He will leave a political landscape that is perhaps permanently unstable in France. It’s unforgivable”.

Minc, an influential businessman who has advised multiple French presidents dating back to François Mitterrand in the 1980s, was one of Macron’s earliest backers. The 76-year-old advised Macron, whose office declined to comment for this story, before his 2017 victory and during his first term, which Minc said wasn’t too bad.

But their relationship slowly deteriorated as Macron made what Minc he believes were a series of missteps and surrounded himself with “an incredibly mediocre team”.

The two stopped speaking shortly after the president called for an ill-advised snap election last year. Today, Minc is perhaps most scathing of the growing number of former Macron allies-turned-critics.

Minc’s critiques are much more personal than those of, say, Gabriel Attal and Edouard Philippe, two former prime ministers who spoke out against Macron last month at the height of France’s recent political crisis. Minc says Macron’s spiraling mistakes since his reelection in 2022 are rooted in narcissism, as the president believes - per Minc - that he is smart and cunning enough to solve any problem thrown his way: “Macron is in denial of reality … He is crushed by his own psychology”.

Others who know Macron have compared him to an inveterate gambler who is always convinced he’s just a win away from taking down the house, no matter how many losses came before. “He thinks as usual that he is the only one who will conjure up a magic trick to find a way out of the difficulties”, said Minc. As he adds, Macron does not recognize that he is “the problem” and that to resolve the political turmoil in France, he needs to withdraw from domestic politics and pivot to international affairs. Macron has, in fact, been more focused on foreign affairs after losing his parliamentary majority last year.

But his refusal to give up control over domestic politics was put on full display last month when he reappointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to lead the government just days after the premier had handed in his resignation”, - reads the article.