President of the Republic as much as “boss” of the “start-up nation”, Emmanuel Macron recently appeared on social networks hammering a punching bag, jaws clenched and veins protruding like Rocky Balboa, to the point of making suspect at some of the Photoshop retouching.
Posted on March 19 on the personal Instagram account of Soazig de La Moissonnière, official photographer of the Presidency of the Republic, the two black and white photos raised many questions: by alternating left and right, is the president putting into practice even in his leisure activities the “at the same time” Macronist? Does he send a message of determination to Vladimir Putin? Is he adopting the gimmick of former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who liked to present himself as a center-right boxer? “These virilist codes used to the point of overdose, what misery of politics”lamented Sandrine Rousseau, environmentalist deputy from Paris.
In reality, Emmanuel Macron is only slipping into the clothes of a new fashionable archetype, that of the gladiator-leader. Gone are the days when, to embody leadership, it was enough to stroll alongside a Labrador or go jogging. A fan of kickboxing, Olivier Véran did not hesitate to put on a mouthguard to meet the electorate, when others, like Rachida Dati, speak out in the media about their pugilistic passion.
Showing up as a punching machine
But it is in Silicon Valley, once bathed in a post-hippie imagination, that this figure of the gladiator-leader has gained the most momentum. While he remained in our memories as a sluggish guy wearing a shapeless hoodie and pool flip-flops, Mark Zuckerberg (Meta’s boss, 1.72 m, 70 kg) now appears as a punching machine, broadcasting on the social networks videos of his mixed martial arts (MMA) training.
1er October 2023, the founder of Facebook appears on his Instagram with two cowards, swollen noses and this caption: “The sparring has gotten a little out of control. I’ll have to update my avatar (laughing emoji). »
Rebelote on November 3, 2023, where, after another session that went wrong, we find him this time bedridden in a hospital, clenching his fist to signify his postoperative fighting spirit. “I tore my cruciate ligament and just had surgery to replace it”informs us, all smiles, the gladiator-leader, who had in the works a plan for a confrontation – aborted – in the octagon with Elon Musk (boss of Tesla, X and Space X, 1.86 m, 90 kg).
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