China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Trump visits golf course while Washington mourns senator
The fight to save, not shut, a McDonald’s in France
STERLING, Virginia — For US President Donald Trump, it was just like any other Saturday.
As political dignitaries gathered in Washington to memorialize Senator John McCain, the president tweeted familiar grievances and headed to the golf course.
McCain’s family had made clear the president was not welcome at the funeral for the six-term senator and decorated war veteran at the Washington National Cathedral. Seated in the pews were three former presidents, a host of lawmakers, and top officials from around the world. Speakers at the service did not mention Trump by name but repeatedly drew contrasts between McCain’s record of service and the divisive politics of the day.
The White House did not answer questions about whether Trump played golf or if he watched the service from afar.
Dressed in a white polo shirt and baseball hat, Trump left the White House in the morning as the late senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain, delivered an emotional address that served as a direct rebuke of Trump and his policies. The tributes still under way, the presidential motorcade whisked him to Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
Throughout the day, Trump tweeted gripes about trade talks with Canada and the Justice Department. By midafternoon he had not named McCain, who had been an infuriating foil in a long-running feud that did not end with the senator’s illness and death. Earlier in the week, Trump drew sharp rebukes for offering a terse statement about McCain’s death under pressure following two days of near-silence.
As the memorial service unfolded, some Trump allies jumped to his defense.
“@realDonaldTrump ran for @POTUS ONE time and WON! Some people will never recover from that,” tweeted Katrina Pierson, an adviser to Trump’s re-election campaign.
Trump has frequented his golf courses in Virginia, New Jersey and Florida throughout his presidency, though the White House often will not say if he plays. Trump repeatedly blistered President Barack Obama during the 2016 campaign for golfing, telling cheering supporters that as president he’d be far too busy working for them.
“I’m not gonna have time to go play golf,” he would shout.
Trump’s visit to the course drew some direct commentary. When the president left his club in the midafternoon a small group of protesters greeted him. Their signs read “Lock Him Up” and “RIP John McCain, a hero”.
MARSEILLE — For decades, McDonald’s was the brand French people loved to hate.
From the 1970s it was accused of being the exporter of “mal bouffe” (“bad food”) to the land of fine dining, blamed for introducing millions of French people to high-calorie US fast-food.
It was also resisted as a symbol of US economic and cultural imperialism, particularly by left wingers, in a country that remains suspicious of globalization — and more eager than most to defend its own language and culture.
French farmer and onetime presidential candidate Jose Bove built a political career through his opposition to McDonald’s which saw him trash a restaurant in the south of France in 1999.
And resistance to the golden arches continues: A mayor on the island of Oleron in western France has famously battled to keep the company out, and the brand is still a favorite target of anti-capitalist protesters during street demonstrations.
But in a turn of events that would have French food purists choking, campaigners including local lawmakers have mobilized to save, not shut, a restaurant in one of the poorest suburbs of the southern city of Marseille.
“From the outside it might seem to be just another restaurant,” local MP and leftwing leader Jean-Luc Melenchon said in a visit last month to the outlet where he was cheered and applauded.
“But it’s the only place where there’s something going on in this area, where you can get something to drink or have a bite to eat with friends.”
The campaign to prevent the “McDo”, as it is known in France, from shutting — local Socialist and Communist Party figures have joined Melenchon — is an unusual development for politicians better known for their opposition to multinational companies.
But it has also served to highlight how the US fastfood chain has become a pillar of the local community, underscoring the lack of other facilities, and economic opportunities, in France’s deeply deprived suburbs.
“There’s only this,” one local, Farida Mameri, said as she arrived with her children. “This area without McDonald’s? There’d be nothing. When you meet someone it’s here, there’s nothing else.”