Gavin Mortimer Gavin Mortimer

France is finally looking forward to some Brit-bashing

Was that a touch of gloating I detected last night as I watched the news on French television? The lead item was Donald Trump’s acceptance of President Macron’s invitation to attend the Bastille Day commemoration in Paris next month. It’s always a prestigious occasion and this year marks the centenary of America’s entry into WW1. Hence the invitation to the American president which came in a telephone conversation where the pair also agreed on a joint military response against the Syrian regime should Bashar al-Assad launch another chemical attack. That Trump has accepted at relatively short notice – Macron only issued the invite on Tuesday – suggests that The Donald is delighted to be asked, as is his wife Melania, who lived in Paris as a young model and retains an affection for France.

More than anything, however, Trump showing up in Paris will be a slap in the face to the inhospitable Brits. As the French news anchor told us on Wednesday evening, as we watched footage of February’s infantile anti-Trump protests in London, normally a new American president visits Britain before France. But this one has understood he’s not welcome in the Old Country, so instead he’ll enjoy the pomp and ceremony that France has to offer; and as the White House press statement explained, the ‘two leaders will further build on the strong counter-terrorism cooperation and economic partnership between the two countries, and they will discuss many other issues of mutual concern’.

France on the whole is in favour of Trump’s visit. There’s the odd dissenting voice, like the far-left demagogue Jean-Luc Melenchon who said the American president ‘is not welcome’, because July 14th is all about ‘the freedom of the French’. But in general the French are pleased that Trump is coming.

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