Trump Slaps Arrogant French President with Sobering History Reminder
Far be it from me to ever perpetuate a stereotype, but sometimes the caricature of a snooty and arrogant Frenchman cuts astonishingly close to the real thing.
Take, for example, French President Emmanuel Macron.
The French president recently spoke at a ceremony honoring the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice and exuded a smug attitude about how superior his way of thinking was.
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism,” Macron said. “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By saying ‘our interests first, who cares about the others,’ we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what makes it great and what is essential: its moral values.”’
Parroting a far-left talking about about how patriotism and nationalism are so different, Macron was clearly taking a not-so-veiled shot at President Donald Trump.
Trump has made no secret about his desire to put “America first,” and it’s been a rallying cry for many of his constituents.
AMERICA FIRST!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 14, 2016
Macron further dug in against Trump, alluding to “old demons.”
“I know there are old demons which are coming back to the surface,” Macron said at the ceremony. “They are ready to wreak chaos and death. History sometimes threatens to take its sinister course once again.”
It doesn’t take a historian to figure out that Macron, ever subtly, was trying to conflate Trump’s brand of patriotism with Nazism.
Further alluding to the world wars, Macron recently claimed that he wanted a “real, true European army,” echoing German Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to the Guardian.
The mere hint that Europe might need a way to stand up against America certainly wasn’t lost on Trump, who fired back as only he can on Twitter and gave a little history lesson of his own against Macron.
Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018
“Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia,” Trump said on Twitter. “But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!”
Ouch. That, my friends, is what the young people call a “burn” these days.
That tweet certainly won’t help Macron’s ego, which should already be pretty bruised considering Trump’s popularity in France is rising while Macron’s is plummeting.
Leave it to a proud American to knock a Frenchman down a peg or two.
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