Rofl, Hollande never said "illuminatis" but "les illuminés" which any french would understand as "raving lunatics" or "godly nutcases" in this context. Bad translators are a great source of trolling materials.
I don't speak French, so I looked up "les illuminés" on Wikipedia. It says they are a socialist essay collection by the French author Gerard de Nerval. I couldn't find any reference to them meaning "raving lunatics" or "godly nutcases" through Google, but perhaps Google's spider robot doesn't index French slang.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Illumin%C3%A9s
Quote
Les Illuminés is a collection of narratives or essays by the French poet and author Gerard de Nerval. Subtitled Recits et Portraits. It was published in 1852.
The book consists of six narratives relating the adventures and mishaps of historical figures whose lives reflected different aspects of Nerval’s own experiences. The concerns of socialism in the eighteenth century and the French Revolution underline most of the narratives. The book is also subtitled: Les precurseurs du socialisme.
The book consists of six narratives relating the adventures and mishaps of historical figures whose lives reflected different aspects of Nerval’s own experiences. The concerns of socialism in the eighteenth century and the French Revolution underline most of the narratives. The book is also subtitled: Les precurseurs du socialisme.
I do and can confirm it basically means nutcases.
