Trump Takes Aim At France’s World War Record As NATO Pullout Rumors Persist
Donald Trump has apparently been trying to think up the perfect response to the criticism he has received since canceling his attendance at a cemetery in France for the past two days, and this morning decided to tweet up a storm with his responses.
The U.S. president fired off a number of tweets early on Tuesday morning regarding France, perhaps to hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron for his thinly-veiled slight aimed at Trump.
As Business Insider reported, Trump took aim where he had decided it would hurt most: France’s World War history. Aside from insulting the French, he also spurred on rumors that he has plans to withdraw from or at least alter the U.S.’s agreement with NATO.
Less than a week before Remembrance Day, Macron mentioned in a speech that Europe should create its own army to protect itself from “China, Russia, and even the United States of America.” Although he later clarified that he had been talking about cybercrimes and investing in domestic defense industries so that the continent won’t have to purchase American weapons, it appears Trump took offense at his statements.
This was only further fueled by Macron on Sunday openly rebuking Trump’s call for nationalism during his speech in the presence of the U.S. president.
After two days of deliberation, Trump finally came up with a series of tweets to clap back at Macron and France.
Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018
France has always been a talking point when it comes to World War I, but to mock them for it just days after the 100th commemoration of the day the war ended seems beyond the pale.
Trump also posted a number of other tweets, hitting back at Macron’s comments on nationalism and even attacking his approval rating, despite the U.S. president boasting a somewhat abysmal approval rating of his own.
The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low Approval Rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of almost 10%. He was just trying to get onto another subject. By the way, there is no country more Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!……..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 13, 2018
He also decided to provide a two-days-too-late excuse for why he had not gone to the cemetery with other major world leaders. On the day, it was claimed that he would not be attending due to the rain. In Trump’s tweet, he claims that his helicopter had “almost zero visibility.”
Unfortunately for him, some were not buying the excuse and plenty of Twitter users were quick to fire back at him. One woman pointed out that he hadn’t gone to Arlington Cemetery either on Monday, and plenty of others posted photos of other former presidents, including Barack Obama and George W. Bush, standing in the rain to honor veterans for their service.
