[gspetr]

Hijack? He's as establishment as they come.

He's essentially the french version of Rubio, not in the "minority candidate" sense, but in the "fallback establishment candidate" sense.

The only difference was that French elites learned from the US Republican elites, avoided internal discord and obliterated the opposition with "timely" scandals.

[mijamo]

The only scandal was against Fillon, the candidate that was much more like traditional establishment. There was no scandal at all among the left side of the spectrum, there just could not agree on anything.

Without the scandal, it could have been Fillon president, so even more establishment, with corruption as an added bonus. I fail to see how it was an operation of the "elites".