Macron publicly correcting Trump's falsehood

[dayoffvibes]

For those keenly following events in geopolitics at the moment... After a depressing and concerning few weeks, what a refreshing and cheering sight to see Macron publicly interrupting Trump to correct him about another one of his falsehoods today. Hurray for strong leadership at last from Europe! Go Macron! He was on fire. So great to see him unafraid to challenge Trump's rubbish. Let's hope Starmer can speak truth on Thursday as well.

Here's the clip. Watch from 1.20ish for that moment, but the whole clip is worth a watch imo. Trumps face at being corrected - he was seething. I do hope it doesn't come back to bite us but Macron was absolutely right to be so clear and forthright and stand up to the bully.

I can’t make up my mind on this either. Does Trump believe this stuff because he is only briefed and surrounded by people who tell him this or does he lie because it will have been said and people will still believe it because they heard him say it.

No idea.

He lies about this stuff all the time.

I bet Starmer is nervous but he'll be firm and resolute I hope

Same

I don't think there's much jeopardy for Starmer. The groundwork has been done

Absolutellement!! Charm seems an inadequate descriptor.

He's got a lovely voice!!

But it came across as kind and gentle...but ultimately patronising. Macron, we should remember is also handling this in a second language while the orange buffoon can't even articulate in his first and only language.

What a contrast.

Macron reminds me a little of Jacinda Ardern in that he addresses hard stuff head-on and takes no prisoners, while showing a very relatable humanity.

Bravo Macron. But Trump doesn’t listen to anything he says. He was just pulling faces and making hand signals to indicate it wasn’t correct. Nothing goes into his dumb brain once his “programmers” have told him something. It reminded me of the “they are eating our cats and our dogs”. Complete bullshit but he believed what he was saying!

Pure political skill from Macron, aided by his knowledge of the situation in Ukraine and basic intelligence.

Trump was just... well he was Trump.

Agreed!

That was a master class of diplomacy and class.

Bingo.
I do hope the European leaders stand up to DT this time round. There was too much smiling and nodding along with a slightly nonplussed look last time, but this time round they know how dangerous he is and there’s more at stake. Merz has spoken up, Macron has spoken up. Sadly I have my doubts about Starmer. Faced with DT’s forceful ways I fear he’ll crumple, and do that “oh this is so awfully difficult” face and go weak and sycophantic. I hope I’m wrong because we need strength and solidarity with other European countries.

An interesting article on why decoupling from the US is harder for the UK. France's nuclear weapons are independent of America. Ours aren't.

https://arthursnell.substack.com/p/unravelling-the-atlantic-alliance?r=8jnwf&triedRedirect=true

Smash…. next question

Yes. I was so pleased to see that. Macron did well.

Yes I saw that. Macron was superb. Starmer won’t challenge trump. He doesn’t challenge anything. According to an article in the Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, he isn’t even in charge but was the creation of spin doctor Morgan McSweeney to get Corbyn out. No idea if that is true. But I thought it was interesting considering he doesn’t seem to have anything of substance to say.

Brilliant for Macron but to be frank I saw a video of someone’s dissection of Starmer’s character based on how he has presented himself so far (even going against his own better judgement if the wind of his own self interest blew hard enough in the opposite direction) and I am inclined to surmise now that Starmer is more easily manipulated if it fits his own ‘political’ (or lack thereof) agenda or if it continues to serve him to have a seat at the big boys table for longer. He gives major Aaron Burr (Hamilton iykyk) vibes in all the wrong ways and his conviction never truly aligns with what you expect him to stand for but maybe perhaps with his ambitions and his pockets. Would love to be proven wrong though for the sake of Britain, Europe and our representation in the madness that is the politics of 2024-2028. What a time to be alive 🙄

Macron did brilliantly...but why use this as another excuse to bash Starmer? Shouldn't we just wait and see?
Something terrible about him in the Telegraph? Surely not.

I hope Starmer will do well. As much as I dislike the guy I think one of the only things Boris handled well was Ukraine and if he were still PM he might be good against Trump.

Again I hope I am proven wrong about Starmer, but he is an elected public figure and therefore (in my opinion) going to be subject to strong opinions on his performance in his job role. Personally I don’t mean to bash him but so far he’s not strengthened my confidence that he would stand up to Trump the way he ought to or the way some (though admittedly few) of the world leaders have strongly and loudly done so far. There have already been a few instances he’s fallen short of showing a true strong backbone, for example his rather meek initial response with the Ukraine / Russia ordeal, post Trump’s idiotic interference, until he had a strong ally on his side (France/Macron).

We are facing this orange baboon on the political war grounds atm and it’s bound to get nastier with time if Trump is allowed to continue spewing and enforcing whatever nonsense he first thinks of in the morning. Yes, we want to maintain our allies but surely not at the cost of playing into Trumps manipulations and lies. If Cheeto potato-head isn’t reigned in with strong rebuttals to the horse manure leaving his mouth at every given second, he’ll continue to call himself king (might actually do that nonetheless) and we become his unwilling subjects. If you have an intelligent and independent thinking mind and want to truly show up for your people and be a strong leader then I want to see the ‘say it with your chest’ attitude across the board. Stand with your convictions, if you can make out what they are that is 👀🙄. Might be an idealistic portrayal of what I want to see from a leader we choose in todays age but we can at the very least hold them accountable to this since it was what they promised on the campaign trail.

Starmer will also be excellent at this, he's very intelligent and dogmatic in a good way.

I suspect all the European leaders who are going to be meeting him have talked and are going to be pretty firm about it all.

Just making up stupid shite as he goes as he always does.

I'm going on his behaviour so far in office. I was hopeful; I now have no faith in him.

Macron handled this with extremely well, he made his point and was clear in what he said. I really hope that Keir Starmer is able to also be clear, of course Trump may well reflect on how is press conference went with Macron and attempt to avoid a contradiction. I think this is the biggest challenge for KS yet and I hope that he is able to respond. Trump needs to realise he's not the world's president he is the president of one country - which although big is not bigger than the rest of the world