Macron Rebukes Trump’s nationalism in speech to Congress

Talking to the Republican-led Congress, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday loudly rejected Trumpism, urging the United States not to cater to our fears by choosing nationalism but to choose cooperation in the face of terrorism and other challenges.

Video: Macron rejects Trump nationalism:

“I do not share the fascination for new strong powers, the abandonment of freedom and the illusion of nationalism,” Macron told a joint meeting of Congress.

“We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism — this is an option. It can be tempting to us as a temporary remedy for our fears. But closing the door to the world, will not stop the evolution of the world,” he added.

Macron could not have chosen a more specific way to reject Trump’s leadership, as Trump leads through fear and smallness, tapping into the Right’s xenophobia and love for cartoon figure strongmen.

Macron talks freedom and democracy:

Paul Miller at Foreign Policy explained Trump’s commitment to nationalism, “Whatever else U.S. President Donald Trump has done, he has spent his first year in office continuing and strengthening his commitment to nationalist rhetoric. For example, back in September 2017, he addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Boilerplate portions aside, the speech was notable for its contributions to the growing corpus of Trump’s governing philosophy. Alongside his speech in Warsaw in July 2017, his U.N. speech was a powerful exposition of contemporary nationalism — and an excellent illustration of its danger, vacuity, and moral arbitrariness.”

Tuesday night, Trump and Macron toasted to the friendship between France and the United States. Indeed, Macron is a real friend to the United States. A real friend has the courage to tell you when you are wrong, and to try to stop you from undermining your own success and happiness.

But of course, Trump won’t listen and his supporters want to believe the paper tiger president is a strongman, when he is actually the weakest of weak men. So weak that France, the country the Right despises, understands the frailty of Trump’s ideas.

Add Macron to The Resistance.

(Additional reporting by Reuters’ Susan Heavey, Patricia Zengerle and Doina Chiacu)

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