Politics

Trump Ridicules Macron Approval Rating, French World War Losses

REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Saagar Enjeti White House Correspondent
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President Donald Trump ridiculed French President Emanuel Macron after a contentious visit to Paris in which his nationalist vision was rebuked by his host.

Trump first delivered a broadside against Macron’s call for a new European military force independent of NATO so that the continent could secure its own military needs outside of U.S. influence. The president tweeted a similar attack at Macron before landing in Paris days earlier and the two discussed the military matter in a bilateral meeting Saturday.

The president then attacked France for alleged tariffs on U.S. wine but settled on blasting Macron’s low domestic approval ratings and targeting his Sunday speech decrying nationalism. The two world leaders previously had a close relationship.

Macron delivered a speech at the centennial ceremony honoring the end of World War I saying nationalism is the “betrayal of patriotism” and calling for a rejection of “selfishness of nations only looking after their own interests. Because patriotism is exactly the opposite of nationalism.”

The speech was widely regarded as a shot at Trump who recently on the 2018 midterm campaign trail identified himself as a nationalist. The president tweeted in response to Macron a twist on his familiar campaign slogan: