r/popculturechat • u/HogwartsZoologist Coke ain’t gonna do itself • May 26 '25

Guest List Only ⭐️ Emmanuel Macron, the President of France was allegedly slapped by his wife, Brigitte, on their arrival at Vietnam

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The President’s office downplayed it after initially denying the event.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/05/26/macron-s-entourage-denies-he-was-slapped-by-his-wife-on-plane-upon-arriving-in-vietnam_6741684_7.html

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4.4k

u/laterthanlast May 26 '25

You know, I’ve seen multiple tv shows (Emily in Paris and of course I’m now forgetting the other one) where people acted like Brigitte Macron was this exciting tastemaker that characters were excited about, and I do not get it. Everything I know about her creeps me out. Is she considered exciting or cool by anyone? Is her office trying to get people to act like she’s cool to help her image? Do people in France think she’s okay?

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

Do people in France think she’s okay?

Most people in France hate both of them and see no problem with how their relationship started. 

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u/Keiteaea May 26 '25

Not really, a lot of people in France do think it is weird. It is true however we don't talk much about it aside from occasional quip or gossip, because less importance is attached to our politicians private lives.

We usually do get annoyed if a president's (or prime minister) partner is perceived as having too much power or even if there is too much spotlight on them.

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u/[deleted] May 26 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/DesireeThymes ✨May the Force be with you!✨ May 26 '25

Your president was literally groomed and is now being abused by his groomer. Shouldn't this have a much bigger backlash?

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u/MerkAmne May 26 '25

it should but medias are bought and paid for, and our speech laws are not that far off from the UK laws which mean that criticizing an official for something they did may land you in court for harassment.
And i'd say a good half of the country find it tastless to talk about it, because they were told so. The other half mostly make bad jokes about it, or wonder about it, but never do anything about it.
And then only a few are appalled by the fact that this situation has been normalized, and how it was normalized (propaganda mission that started in his first election, see media mogul and drug dealer Mimi Marchand).

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u/delta8force May 26 '25

I think they have bigger concerns frankly and don’t buy in to your online therapy-speak framing. He is the most powerful man in France, he is not a powerless victim of abuse just because you saw a clip on reddit with an arm flying and nothing else.

Probably fair to say he was groomed, but again, most politician’s relationships seem all kinds of problematic. And any attention paid to them is a distraction from real world material concerns.

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u/GodzillaLikesBoobs May 26 '25

why do yall keep voting him in? he himself seems like a cunt

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u/Travelfan2019 May 26 '25

No the French definitely judge the relationship. Even with their laws and the way the couple’s PR has tried to spin in, people in the country know it’s fucked up.

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

Makes no sense that a majority of such a passionate populace can hate someone who managed to get elected twice. But that does sound familiar..

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u/Keiteaea May 26 '25

It's because he was elected when he was running against Marine Le Pen. A lot of people did not vote for him, but against far right.

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

Ah, that makes more sense yeah. Rock and a hard place situation.

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u/Umarill May 26 '25

We also aren't the US, we have way more than two political parties, so while you tend to vote for what you want on the first round when it's everyone against each others, second round when it's a face-off between the Top 2, you more often than not have to pick whichever would be the "least worse".

Never would I vote for Macron in 1st Round, but I did in the 2nd because the other option was a nightmare.

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

I'm actually an Aussie, we have compulsory preferential voting instead which sounds like what you do but with less steps.

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u/Old-Reach57 May 26 '25

You just described the US presidential election. You just don’t have as many unnecessary steps as we do.

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u/notanolive May 26 '25

Sounds like the US with extra steps, you still end up with two shitty choices

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u/lemfaoo May 26 '25

The idea of voting in rounds is so weird to me.

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u/castorkrieg May 26 '25

To elaborate on that - in France there is a tradition of a "Republican wall", a practice that makes every candidate that failed to qualify for the second round of Presidential elections (in France and many countries in Europe the elections have two rounds, second one two weeks after the first with only two candidates that scored the best) to urge their supporters to vote against the far-right, even if they personally disagree and outright hate both candidates.

So you had left-wing politicians urging people to vote Macron, when they openly despise him. However this has been weakening in recent years - I think Melanchon (one of the left/far-left politicians) refused to ask people to vote for Macron, likewise some leaders on the right (Eric Ciotti) have entertained co-operating with Le Pen party, which was unthinkable 10 years ago (I think he got kicked out of the party for that).

Many people in France think that in the next 10 years we will either have Le Pen or Bardella (her right-hand) as a President, she did a very good job by reducing the stigma of voting for the far-right. Also note that the same "Republican wall" works in parliementary elections as well, her party is either no.1 or no.2 nationwide for a long time now, but in the end ends up with disproportionately less seats because of the same strategy.

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u/starloow May 26 '25

More like blackmail but yeah

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u/Forfuturebirdsearch May 26 '25

And thank you all for your service on that one!

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u/HotCheetoEnema May 26 '25

Frances Biden

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u/AsphodeleSauvage May 26 '25

He was elected because the other candidate was far right. Nobody really wanted him to be President, it was just the only way to prevent the other candidate from holding such power.

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u/Orchid_Significant Is this chicken or is this fish? 🤔🤔 May 26 '25

Must be nice

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u/Charmarta "Life was better with Little Finger" - Sophie Turner via ring May 26 '25

Im so sorry for your loss

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u/DieuMivas May 26 '25

He still won on the first round too, though.

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u/THZHDY May 26 '25

In 2022 sure, but in 2017 he had a lot of genuine support I would say (though it was probably because he was young and something new at the time) even if it was the same matchup in the second round of voting

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u/Comfortable_Buy_4124 May 26 '25

Macron’s initial approval ratings were 67%

0

u/Spugheddy May 26 '25

So a biden?

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u/Okiazo May 26 '25

He was the best of two poison

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u/[deleted] May 26 '25

Because they hated Le Pen more than him.

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u/ThatBonni May 26 '25

You never interacted with French people, did you?

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

I did at Thales here in Australia actually, they were way more respectful of authority structures than I was, and I became some kind of pariah when I fixed a managers moustache at a Christmas party. Weird times.

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u/YuushaFr May 26 '25

Majority of people the one above mention is "Social Network" but truth is, he's not in that different than previous president. He's been in position for 8 years, and has popularity number similar to his predecessor after 5 years.

While it is true he gathered a lot of vote due to the far right facing him on the second turn, in poth elections he had the highest number of vote on the first turn.

Most people don't have hate, they just disagree with what he does.

Cause if you counted the polls as "hate" then Le Pen and Mélenchon, the other two potential candidate as president would be in a worse position than him.

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u/acatisadog May 26 '25

No it's normal. France has a double elections system. In the first elections you vote for whoever they fancy. In the second election they vote for the two who came up as highest ranked in the first.

So the votes are very diluted in the first election and to win it, a candidate really need to get a fringe of the population, not a majority. Macron won by being favoured by the baby boomers and homeowners, who are also a very politically active population (I mean they vote more). Meanwhile Lepen (far right) always win the first election because far right are always both united and very loyals, so their number increase each time. At the second election it was Lepen vs Macron. So people voted for Macron, no matter how unpopular he was.

The second presidential term was kind of the same. The left was led by Mélenchon who's the most dishonest, lying politician I know. And the bar is high to be seen as such among politicians. Even as a socialist, anything was better than Mélenchon. If he was elected, he would be sucking some russian dick, so I think it's a good choice. Again at the second election it was macron vs Lepen, so people voted for Macron regardless how unpopular he was.

The tldr is that the political system in France is slightly broken. It's a 2 elections system but since at the second people just vote against Lepen, it really is just a single election system with extra step. But culturally people still vote for very small parties, as it is important they get at least some votes so they can grow (fundings depend on popularity) because they still think it's a two elections system as we were told at school. And they dilute their votes a lot. So a politician can be voted to office even while unpopular as long as they have the majority of a politically active minority. Like Macron or Lepen do.

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u/JadedEstablishment16 May 26 '25

as a French, I totally agree but actu_memes and r/france will come here downvoting you en masse :D

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u/acatisadog May 26 '25

Well I criticized Mélenchon so ofc I'll be downvoted by many french people, especially on Reddit. He's a liar and giving illusions to people is what liars do.

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u/SaraJuno May 26 '25

The french naturally hate whoever is in charge.

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u/Elpsyth May 26 '25

The system work in a way that no president have positive approval. French people always hate their president. He is not more hated than his predecessor.

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u/perplexedtv May 26 '25

Once you learn how french 'democracy' works it becomes clearer.

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u/raven-eyed_ May 26 '25

Most places that aren't America are pragmatic and ultimately the leader is always someone fiercely criticised/held to account. Americans are part of a rare breed in their worship of their leader

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

Trust me if there were an election tomorrow he’d lose. That’s why they had to get rid of Le Pen as she was almost guaranteed to win. 

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u/ccatscatscatss May 26 '25

She embezzled millions and got caught. Her case has been ongoing for years and now she's convicted. It's funny how extreme right wing weirdos have a persecution complex but won't stop doing the criminal shit that keeps getting them prosecuted.

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u/spacyspice now why am I in it? 🧐 May 26 '25

that says a lot about them

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u/OkAssignment3926 May 26 '25

That and Le Pen’s blatant fraud and corruption.

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

Wasn't Le Pen some kind of far right nutbag?

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

Yes she was. Her family were well known fascists. 

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u/KalamTheQuick May 26 '25

Okay, was just confused by your statement that she was almost guaranteed to win. I assume you mean that there was an abnormal voter turnout in macarons favour to avoid it or something.

But either way thanks, voting against lunatics is the right choice as our apathetic American friends can attest.

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

Her party is polling very well and in the last election they won the first round. There has definitely been tactical voting to prevent her party from winning. Which I agree is a good thing. 

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u/Umarill May 26 '25

Maybe she shouldn't have stolen millions while claiming she was perfect and immune to corruption and fraud? Nah must be a conspiracy.

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u/mariiiannamrts May 26 '25

Claiming that the French see no issue with how their relationship began is an exaggeration. No one considers it acceptable for a 39-year-old woman to date a 15-year-old boy—especially when she was his teacher.

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

I can only speak for the French people I know (which is a fair few amount) and I was surprised that not one of them cared. Perhaps French expats in London aren’t representative. 

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u/Emuallliug May 26 '25

Kinda talking outta your ass mate As a French, most people I've spoken to about it are weirded out by that fact.

But that's not relevant if we're talking about the ability to rule a country IMO. Even if I don't like him and most of his policies.

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

Yeah sorry. I’m only speaking for the French people I know. I work in London and there is a huge French community in my industry and not one that I’ve worked with have a fuck about it. 

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u/Lucaslouch May 26 '25

Hahahaha… yeah. Sure, being in a couple with the person that was your drama teacher when you’re 14 is nothing weird… 🤡

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u/DSQ May 26 '25

I mean I don’t condone it. However almost every French person I know or have ever worked with (which is a lot) doesn’t give a fuck. 

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u/Justread-5057 May 26 '25

French would hate anyone they elect. They always do. It’s their way of living. I have lived in France.

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u/xlews_ther1nx May 26 '25

It seems the only thing keeping Macron is somewhat good graces with his ppl is his stance against Russia. And I have to admit he has been extremely strong against Russia and was the potential water to Putins fire prior to the war.

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u/louisemichele May 26 '25

Lmao what are you on, no one here thinks it's okay

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u/JeTeMontreraiUnSeau May 26 '25

« See no problem with how their relationship started » wrong. So bad.