Hollande came into office pushing taxation policies that made Bernie Sanders look like a fiscal conservative. Since then he's become wildly unpopular, his tax plans came apart, but not before some of the country's wealthiest men went into exile, and meanwhile he had been blowing a small fortune on haircuts.
The Socialist leader — elected on a populist mandate of taxing the super-wealthy — spends nearly $11,000 a month on his presidential barber, the Le Canard Enchaine newspaper reported. A government spokesman confirmed the story on Wednesday.
Hollande, 61, is not known for having unusually difficult hair.
Is it made out of steel wool? Or solid gold? We're talking about the French equivalent of George Costanza blowing through a fortune on haircuts when he's balding. But Hollande has addressed the issue.
The topic was, well, so topical that he had to address it Thursday in his traditional Bastille Day televised interview — a moment Hollande had hoped to use to show a dignified front ahead of France’s next general election in May.
Hollande defended his spending on the presidential barber, reminding the nation that since being elected in 2012 as a self-styled “Monsieur Normal” and defender of the poor, he has cut his own salary by 30 percent, reduced the Elysee Palace budget by 9 million euros and cut its staff by 10 percent.
“You can reproach me on anything you like, but not on that,” he said, visibly uncomfortable with the subject.
Declaring that he was not the person responsible for overseeing his cranial grooming arrangements, Hollande said “concerning the hairdresser’s costs, we used to use external contractors until now, and I preferred that it was handled from here.”
Detractors noted that Hollande was elected because comments such as “I do not like the rich” marked a strong contrast with the bling-bling image of his conservative predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who loved flashy jewelry and fancy restaurants.
And yes, Hollande takes his barber along on trips.
The original story by the Le Canard Enchaine newspaper was confirmed Wednesday by French government spokesman Stephane Le Foll, who awkwardly tried to defend his boss.
“Doesn’t everyone have their hair done?” he quipped, adding that the barber is present in France and on trips abroad. “He is always there.”
The left just wants to bring the monarchy back with themselves as kings.