French President Emmanuel Macron meant to project firmness when he spoke at the World Economic Forum. Instead, the internet fixated on how he said "for sure," all while looking as cool as a cucumber in a suit and reflective aviators.
Within hours, clips circulated, and people latched onto his accent, sunglasses, and confident gestures. His forum speech tackled trade tensions, but it was the memes that stole the show.
The clip from the speech landed in meme territory because it felt oddly cinematic, with Macron wearing aviators and a sharp suit as he spoke with relaxed certainty.
What was Macron’s speech about, and where was he?
Macron delivered the speech on Tuesday, Jan 20, in Davos, Switzerland, during the World Economic Forum. He criticized what he described as economic bullying, while calling for U.S. tariffs on European countries to be abolished. Although he never named President Donald Trump, Macron clearly pointed to Washington’s pressure campaign. He criticized U.S. trade tactics that he said pushed unfair concessions and chipped away at Europe’s export interests.
Macron also framed the tariff threats as retaliation against countries that rejected the idea of U.S. control over Greenland. He warned that "an endless accumulation of new tariffs [...] are fundamentally unacceptable – even more so when they are used as leverage against territorial sovereignty."
While his speech was impressive and engaging, people got distracted near the end of his speech, when Macron said, "Having a place like Europe, which sometimes is too slow, for sure, and needs to be reformed, for sure, but which is predictable, loyal… And when, well, you know that the rule of the game is just a rule of law, it's a good place."
The back-to-back use of the phrase "for sure" in Macron's speech had people falling over laughing. As one person wrote, "I cannot get the 'fo shure!' out of my head. In 24hrs it’s turned into a sickness." Another joked in French that "the combination of sunglasses + for sure" had already produced "the meme of 2026."
While Macron wore the sunglasses to cover an injured eye, his suave look at the summit caused a boost iVision Tech's stocks, according to Forbes.
25 of the best "foshur" memes and jokes
The memes ranged widely, while sticking to a familiar format. People paired an 11-second clip from Macron's speech with captions like "Me explaining my writing process" or "3rd year grad students explaining their research progress." Others framed it as relationship humor, crypto panic, or chronic lateness. Some fans leaned into roleplay, with one person admitting, "I just blurted out a 'fo shure' pronounced in a Macron-esque manner."
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@OuranosMK tweeted in French, "I just blurted out a 'fo shure' pronounced in a Macron-esque manner. I recommend it. My aura was at its peak and everyone rushed to agree with me…"
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"This soundbite of Macron describing Europe is the only thing getting me through rn," @angelicanoi wrote.
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