Let’s not forget he’s only saying that because he’s not running anymore. He was perfectly happy propping her up above all others in the last 8 years, the same way Trump was propped up, except he won (until last summer when the left came back). Everyone else on the right is mad because they wanted to do the same in the next cycle, as usual - even some on the left are also a bit unsure, probably because they also expected to do the same for themselves after Macron is gone (the left has a much better chance than the right against the far right). Hell, even his current Prime Minister is making barely veiled comments about it - the same guy (among a few others) whose party was also punished for something similar, except on a far, far lesser scale, thus without ineligibility sentencing.