Lest we forget, Trump has got no respect for anything
AS LEADERS came together in Paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, there was one man who stood very much by himself.
Barely had Donald Trump entered French airspace aboard Air Force One, when he broke from the political trenches to launch a stinging attack on his host, Emmanuel Macron.
“President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the US, China and Russia. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US subsidises greatly,” he blasted.
His tweet showed his worrying ignorance as he misconstrued what the French leader had actually said.
Macron had in fact called on Europe to build an army so as not to rely so heavily on America (as Trump demands) and to create better EU-wide cybersecurity.
What should have been a serious show of worldwide solidarity and a reaffirmation of transatlantic alliances instead became another opportunity for Trump to further tarnish America’s reputation.
It quickly became clear the US leader’s mood was far darker than the grey clouds gathering overhead. Not content with the offence already caused, Trump’s petulance pushed the occasion further into chaos.
First, there was his sudden decision not to visit the American cemetery at nearby Belleau Wood, where, in one of the most horrific battles of WWI, 1,800 of his countrymen lost their lives.
The White House blamed his absence on a terrible, but it turned out non-existent, storm.
As criticism of his absence grew, Trump grimaced his way through lunches and dinners seemingly enraged he was neither valued, nor the centre of attention, among the more than 60 world leaders. It was at complete odds to his boast before leaving for Paris when he claimed so many were attending because he was going.
But the icing on the cake was Trump’s arrival at Sunday’s ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe in his mini-motorcade, separated from the other heads of state who marched, arm-in-arm up the Champs-Elysées. Only his pal, Vladimir Putin, arrived alone too.
Trump was missing from one of the weekend’s most powerful images – a line of world leaders, walking shoulder-to-shoulder in a sombre, rain-soaked procession as the bells marking the exact moment World War I fighting ended, finished tolling. And Trump’s indignation went off the scale as Macron lectured on the dangers of nationalist isolation.
As Trump sulked off back to the White House, the French President tweeted a photograph of himself and the German leader, Angela Merkel, with a single-word
Trump was missing from one of the weekend’s most powerful images – a line of world leaders, walking shoulder-to-shoulder in a sombre, rain-soaked procession...
caption: “Unis” (United).
On his return to Washington, the deluded President tweeted that “much was accomplished” in his meetings, before voicing a familiar complaint about America’s allies and launching another attack on his French counterpart.
“Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
“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 US came along.” Incredible.
His trip to France made clear that nearly two years after taking office, Trump has upended decades of American foreign policy posture.
The President, who ran on an “America First” platform, has jarred European allies with his actions.
He has pulled the US out of the landmark Paris Climate Accord, slapped tariffs on the European Union and suggested he might be willing to pull America out of NATO if member countries don’t boost their defence spending. All this while launching verbal attacks on America’s allies and toadies up to Putin despite Moscow’s meddling in the US election.
Self-proclaimed ‘nationalist’ Trump may scream America First but increasingly it’s a case of America Alone.