The air in Davos is notoriously thin, a fitting atmosphere for the world’s most self-important ghouls to gather and hyperventilate about the 'state of the world' while ignoring the fact that they are the primary architects of its collapse. This year’s World Economic Forum, that annual carnival of private jets and performative empathy, has offered us a particularly grotesque centerpiece: Emmanuel Macron. The French President, a man who consistently mistakes his own middle-management platitudes for the meditations of a philosopher-king, decided to grace the sub-zero Swiss heights by wearing dark sunglasses. Indoors. In a basement-level conference center. If there were a clearer metaphor for the blinding ignorance of the European elite, it would have to be written in neon.

Naturally, the sycophantic press corps scrambled to interpret this 'fashion choice' as a masterstroke of diplomatic messaging. Some whispered of a migraine—perhaps the logical result of trying to find a coherent economic policy amidst France’s perennial labor strikes—while others saw it as a defiant aesthetic statement. But let’s be honest: Macron wasn't wearing those shades to block out the glare of the lights; he was wearing them to block out the glare of reality. When you are the poster child for a neoliberal order that is currently being dismantled by its own contradictions, it helps to have a polarized filter between you and the burning wreckage. It is the ultimate 'Jupiterian' move: the god-king who cannot even look his subjects—or his rivals—in the eye.

The context for this ocular theater was, of course, the looming specter of Donald Trump and his renewed threats of trade tariffs. Macron, playing the role of the last adult in the room, used his Davos platform to 'rebuke' the American populist’s protectionist agenda. It was a classic display of the modern political charade. On one side, you have the American Right, a movement that has devolved into a crude, tariff-obsessed protectionism that treats global trade like a playground shakedown. On the other, you have Macron and the 'civilized' European Left-Center, who cling to the corpse of globalism with the desperation of a high-end funeral director. Both sides are equally delusional, yet they perform this dance every year for our supposed benefit.

Macron’s rebuke was as flimsy as his eyewear. He spoke of 'strategic autonomy' and the need for Europe to stand firm against the bullying of Washington. It’s a lovely sentiment, provided you ignore the fact that 'strategic autonomy' is just French for 'we want to be the ones exploiting our own markets without American competition.' The tariffs Trump threatens are undeniably stupid—a blunt instrument wielded by a man who thinks economics is a zero-sum game played with gold-plated Legos. But Macron’s defense of the status quo is equally vacuous. He represents a system that has hollowed out the middle class of his own country, yet he has the audacity to stand in a Swiss bunker and lecture the world on 'stability' while wearing the sunglasses of a failed rockstar.

There is something deeply pathological about the Davos crowd’s obsession with these minor aesthetic flourishes. We are living through a period of profound global instability, where the very foundations of the post-war order are crumbling under the weight of populism, environmental catastrophe, and the sheer incompetence of the governing class. And yet, the headlines are dominated by the President of France’s choice of eyewear. It is the triumph of the superficial over the structural. We are being asked to debate the semiotics of a pair of plastic frames while the men wearing them navigate us toward a precipice. The sunglasses are not just a shield for Macron; they are a shield for us, the viewers, allowing us to pretend that these people are cool, composed, and in control, rather than terrified and out of their depth.

History will not remember Macron’s 'rebuke' of Trump. It will not remember his visionary calls for European unity or his insipid defense of the 'liberal international order.' If history remembers anything from this pathetic display, it will be the image of a man sitting in a brightly lit room, terrified of the light, hiding behind tinted glass. It is the perfect visual representation of the contemporary politician: all style, no substance, and completely incapable of facing the sun. Trump offers us the darkness of a crude, regressive past, and Macron offers us the tinted, filtered darkness of a technocratic future. Neither is worth the price of admission. As the elite continue to congratulate themselves on their mountain retreat, the rest of us are left to wonder when the lights will finally go out for good. Based on the view from Davos, it won't matter anyway; their eyes were already closed.