November 13, 2018

Trump Lets Loose on France in a Torrent of Hostile Tweets

Many noted that Trump’s tweets came on the third anniversary of the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Aurelien Morissard/ZUMA

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In a string of Tuesday morning tweets, President Donald Trump tore into French President Emmanuel Macron, appeared to mock France for both its World War losses, and accused the French of both engaging in unfair trade practices and being “more Nationalist” than any other country in the world. 

The diatribe concluded with the president defending his internationally condemned decision to skip a ceremony honoring fallen American World War I soldiers as a part of the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day on Saturday. Trump appeared to lay the blame on Secret Service officials for the decision.

Together, the tweets emerged as a presidential response to a speech by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in which he denounced nationalism as a “betrayal of patriotism.” The remarks were widely seen as a veiled rebuke of Trump’s very public embrace of nationalism.

Many noted that Trump’s tweets on Tuesday came on the third anniversary of the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people in a span of three hours. 

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1062336793998180352

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