Rory Stewart argues that Emmanuel Macron's decision to call a snap election was a reckless move driven by a need to project strength.

“My take on it was that he has made a massive mistake that it's a classic thing that young men feeling trapped suddenly think they need to show that they're strong, take the initiative and do something reckless.”

Marine Le Pen is gaining political traction by focusing on domestic inflation and cost-of-living issues while criticizing Macron's alignment with U.S. foreign policy on Ukraine.

“she is saying that she has been focused on inflation and cost of living and she says macron has been distracted by being America's basically lap dog puppet whatever on Ukraine so she's saying we need to focus on the French economy”