France wakes up bleary-eyed on Wednesday, with many still in disbelief at the political uproar unleashed by right-wing nationalist figure Marine Le Pen the night before.

Within hours of a Paris appeals court confirming his guilty verdict for misappropriation of public funds, he had not only defiantly announced that he would run in next year’s French presidential election, but had also launched his campaign on social media.

Pour la France – For France – reads its online poster, which features the country’s tricolor flag and a smiling Le Pen with outstretched arms.

“Just like (actress) Kate Winslet aboard the Titanic,” muttered a French journalist I was chatting with. “France feels like the Titanic right now, sinking, at least politically!”

But Le Pen’s campaign promises the opposite. “La Renaissance” is its subtitle: rebirth.

Le Pen has always claimed to be a woman who listens, a woman of the people. Many in France (as in many European countries) feel disillusioned with traditional politics and politicians. They observe the enormous inequalities in society and yearn for change.

Le Pen swims happily in these divided waters. She is often heard speaking of “The People” versus “The Metropolitan Elite” or “The Patriots” – whom she claims she represents – who fight politically for a France that puts the French people first, versus those whom she disparagingly labels as “Globalists”, including her political enemy, current French President Emmanuel Macron.

By the way, the name of his political party is Renacimiento. The fact that the word features so prominently in Le Pen’s new online campaign cannot be a coincidence. It’s a dig at the man who, when he was first elected president nearly a decade ago, promised that he would ensure that no French citizen would again feel the need to vote for what he called political extremes.

He made clear that he placed Le Pen’s National Rally Party in the extremist camp. It is ironic that the decisive round of next year’s French presidential election could pit Le Pen against Jean-Luc Mélenchon of the French far left.

Le Pen lost twice to Macron in previous presidential elections. In France, the law prevents her from running for a third term, while she has never appeared so strong in public opinion polls.

Revival is also a pertinent concept when it comes to Le Pen because she has been dismissed as a career politician several times (such as after her televised debate over her car accident against Macron in the run-up to the 2017 presidential election) only to return with more power.

Perhaps her outstretched arms on the social media campaign poster are supposed to make us think of a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Most in France had believed that the appeal court would not only reaffirm Le Pen’s conviction for embezzlement on Tuesday, but also the original ruling that sentenced her to a five-year ban from running for public office. Many predicted the end of his political career.

In fact, with so much political scrutiny over this case, the appeals court shortened the ban, leaving the decision to Le Pen. It allowed him to campaign for the presidency if he wished, while insisting that he wear an electronic tag for a year.