There may be no world leader who has gone more out of his way to buddy up to Donald Trump than French president Emmanuel Macron. Despite the differences in their age and politics, the two men have grown closer over the 18 months of Trump’s presidency, something that was obvious if you saw them playing grab-ass during Macron’s recent visit to the U.S.
But the French president has little to show for his bromance with Trump, with the U.S. defying France’s wishes on the Iran nuclear deal, Paris climate accord, and steel tariffs. Now, the French people are pissed that Macron’s genuflecting has not resulted in any tangible wins, the Times reports.
France “prostituted itself” and “humiliated itself in its relations with the U.S.,” Daniel Fasquelle, a member of Parliament from a center-right party in the opposition, told reporters in the halls of the Assemblée Nationale last week in the wake of Mr. Trump’s decision on Iran.
Another lawmaker, Clémentine Autain, on the left, told the journalists, “France favors a partner which happens to be a dangerous partner for world peace.”
“France should bang its fist on the table,” she said, “rather than go courting Donald Trump.”
It’s not just anecdotal. A new poll from Odoxa shows that 55 percent of French people disapprove of Macron’s relationship with Trump. The firm also found “that the words ‘sycophantic,’ ‘painful’ and ‘failure’ were among the most frequently used on social media to describe the Macron-Trump relationship.”
Macron did level some veiled criticism of Trump while in the U.S., warning Congress about leaders who capitalize on “fear and anger” and discouraging isolationism. But that’s not enough for the French, who were already growing disenchanted with Macron before he began sucking up to his American counterpart.
Less than a year into his presidency, Macron’s approval is hovering around 40 percent, a level good for Trump but bad for other world leaders. He’s aroused the ire of the right and the left, who’ve dubbed him the “president of the rich.” And in a recent TV interview, the journalists quizzing him, who did not refer to him as “Mr. President,” were not wearing ties. Mon dieu!
