By Christopher Friend

Reputational attacks on politicians often encompass a range of tactics aimed at diminishing their public standing, credibility, or likability. Family members, despite not being directly involved in politics or the public eye, can become targets of character attacks as a way to indirectly harm the politician’s reputation. This strategy can exploit the emotional ties or perceived vulnerabilities related to the politician’s personal life, aiming to evoke public sympathy, outrage, or distrust.

French president Emannuel Macron has stood by recent comments refusing to rule out the prospect of sending Western troops to Ukraine. Some allies staunchly refuted the insinuation while others failed to rule it out. Regardless, the Russian response was unequivocally clear: sending Western troops to Ukraine would result in a full-scale conflict between NATO and Russia.

Yet, the focus on the French President’s remarks extends beyond the geopolitical ramifications – Russian media has seized the moment to resurface a longstanding targeted character attack against Macron’s wife, Brigitte Macron. This attack came just days after Macron began intensifying his remarks.

On March 1, 2024, the Daily Mail, known for its sensationalist journalism, published an article that cast a shadow over the private lives of Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. The article, drawing upon a French-language interview with Brigitte’s daughter Tiphaine Auzière, portrayed the couple’s early relationship in a highly negative light. This personal scrutiny comes at a time when the political spotlight on Macron has intensified amid his comments on the war in Ukraine.

The Russian media was quick to pick the story up. Just a few hours after Daily Mail published the story, the widely watched Russian news show 60 Minute on state-run channel Russia 1, devoted a four-minute segment on the Macrons’ relationship (starts at 1:28). Echoing the Daily Mail article, the segment zeroed in on the most controversial aspects of the affair, such their significant age difference and the affair’s effect on Brigitte’s family, further fueling the fire of personal attacks against the French president and his wife.

Most interestingly, the segment highlights an overlooked quote from Tiphaine Auzière about derogatory social media insinuations regarding Brigette Macron’s gender. Unlike the Daily Mail, which mentioned the quote without accompanying visual aids, 60 Minute displayed an indecent photo of Brigitte Macron, intensifying the character attack.

Such attacks against Brigitte, which often call into question the age gap between Macron and Brigitte or claim Brigitte is transgender, have been resurfaced several times in various forms since at least 2021. The narrative likely originated from French domestic right-wing groups, but were later picked up by Western sources.

At the time, 60 Minute had also picked up on the story and featured the same indecent photo. On December 21, 2021, 60 Minute featured a segment on French right-wing conspiracies suggesting Brigette Macron was transgender (starts at 06:30). Russian propagandists likely featured this segment in 2021 to highlight the so-called “degradation” of the West amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia.

The attack in March 2024, while a resurfacing of previous attacks, is especially notable for its timing with respect to Macron’s comments about the war in Ukraine. The repeat of such a narrative suggests a strategic pattern in Russian media’s effort to undermine Western figures through personal attacks.

The timing of this segment, closely following Macron’s provocative comments on Ukraine, is hardly coincidental. Russian disinformation campaigns and character attacks have been distinctly opportunistic, seizing moments of heightened tension to perpetuate narratives of Western moral decline.

The strategic timing and nature of these broadcasts, although not overtly declaring a position, imply a sustained approach of using “news” as a tool for political conflict. With ongoing tensions, these indirect assaults are very likely to continue, further obscuring the distinction between authentic news and propaganda.

Reputational attacks on politicians, which often extend to their family members, serve various strategic purposes but also have significant implications for the quality of public discourse. When the tactics of scorning, smearing, and putting down family members are employed, not only do they aim to diminish the public standing or credibility of the politician, but they also divert attention from substantive policy discussions.

The mediatization of politics, however, is not surprising to see in Russian media. Like Western capitalist societies, the marriage between business (media owners) and political structures in Russia is strong. The scandalization and personalization of news is profitable. This diversion degrades the quality of public political debate by shifting focus from critical issues that affect citizens’ lives to personal or sensational matters that may have little bearing on a politician’s ability to govern effectively.

The example of the attack on the French President and his wife may not have the same impact as an economic sanction or a kinetic strike, but it is still an arsenal in adversaries’ war chests. Though the audience is domestic, attacks like these help Russian propagandists affirm the country’s so-called moral high ground. Cohesion and national unity – the hearts and minds of the people – are important factors to develop during any national conflict, and this character attack is part of that broader narrative.

Christopher Friend is a graduate student in the Schar School of Government and Policy at George Mason University.