Nobody takes any pleasure rooting for a foreign leader to give it to the POTUS and his flunkies. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs when we look to Europe, and Canada, and Mexico to speak truth to the lies we have brought on ourselves. It’s anybody’s guess exactly what motivated Macron to immerse himself in Trump World. Surely, as an insightful man, he has to understand that spending any time at all in that orbit will diminish you. Trump is going to process things through his character disordered psyche, and even the best intentions will get tarnished.
So it was incumbent on Macron, when given the podium in the Capitol, to make sure there could be no doubt where he stands, even if reasonable people may disagree how necessary it was to muddy himself in Trumpist waters. He needed to be clear. And he was.
One thing that now always slaps you in the face when listening to speeches by foreign leaders is how truly awful Trump’s speechmaking process is. Of course if Stephen Miller is the principle writer of Trump speeches, nuff said; it couldn’t be any worse and will not improve. Yet and still, listening to Macron’s oratory makes one wistful for the very recent past, and even more depressed about the future with our anti-statesman.
It was great to hear him repeatedly cite the “unfinished business” of our democracies, which reads to me “this is a bump in the road we will get through.” Citing King and James Baldwin, sort of out of thin air, felt like an unmistakable bow to progress, forced upon the type of troglodytes who for now enjoy power. And because, unlike our leader, Macron is not a nihilist, he actually laid out an agenda, something directly at odds with Trump and the GOP. Anybody not overtly corrupt and dedicated to the national interests of their country understands both the threat and opportunities of climate change. Developing low carbon energy technologies is a big part of responsible economic forecasting. Macron merely stated the obvious today, to the stoney silence of more than half his audience. The enthusiasm he mustered for what the rest of the world understands as a given was a bit muted by the disgust he surely feels at the 2 year olds before him. But even so, the theme was clear, it’s a long distance race not a sprint, and Trump’s already out of gas.
Anger builds nothing, Macron implored, and threaded clearly through all of the love for our common history, and the bonds we share, his message was Europe is moving on with or without the US. If he came here willing to let Trump and company portray him as a supplicant, he left as the one doing the telling. Trump has the power to cause some pain for Europe, but at the end of the day they will realign and move on, and we will lose. Macron knows this, not because he is particularly smart, or visionary, but because he is not stupid. Whether Trump really believes he has a newest bestest buddy he can rely on not to detest him, he was told clearly today in language he never could understand, that he’s temporary, a damaging blip that can be corrected if we embrace our past to save our future. Trump is merely the ugly present. BC
Looks like the shine is off the apple on that relationship. The were drawn to each other because they were the new kids on the block on the world stage; Neither had global “street cred”. In Trumps’s case that street cred is taking a big hit every time he opens his mouth or dumps on twitter. Marcron may finally be realizing there is no benefit to cozying up with the world’s crybaby.
Bob, spot on! BC