Éric Zemmour’s bitter defeat in the presidential election did not taint his ambitions for the legislative elections. But on the side of his teams, it has tensed the atmosphere, especially between the two “nerds” of Reconquest!, Samuel Lafont and Damien Rieu. The two men, digital and social media specialists, had to work side by side during the face-to-face campaign, allowing Éric Zemmour to have a fairly impressive online presence. But at the beginning of May, when the battle for the legislative elections was launched, tensions rose a notch and, according to Le Figaro, Wednesday May 18, Samuel Lafont and Damien Rieu almost came to blows.
Damien Rieu is a candidate in the 4th constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, in Menton. Approached in the Vaucluse, Samuel Lafont, he finally decided not to embark on the battle. This did not prevent him from making harsh comments on his colleague’s campaign poster. “Your poster is disgusting”, he would have launched, according to Le Figaro. What Damien Rieu would have answered with a scathing “shut up”.
The tone rose so high that Sarah Knafo had to be called in to calm them down. Damien Rieu and Samuel Lafont then had the right to a serious reassembly of the straps. Which has obviously paid off since both agree today that this muscular exchange is a “non-event”.
Damien Rieu insisted on denying to Le Figaro the words attributed to him and only declared: “We are two characters. Somewhat the same. We exchanged words, that’s all. For Samuel Lafont, it was simply a “minor disagreement”. But behind the scenes, we are blowing that it might be a matter of money. Reclaim! was forced to trim its payroll after the defeat in the presidential election and is preparing to drive home the point after the legislative elections, which are not looking to be under the best auspices. Will Eric Zemmour be able to keep his two proteges?
