Trump seeks no friends in Europe

U.S. President Donald Trump sulked
and scowled his way through ceremonies
commemorating the 100th
anniversary of the end of World
War I this week, said Guillaume
Errard in Le Figaro (France). Before
he even disembarked in France,
Trump had fired off an angry tweet
lambasting his host, French President
Emmanuel Macron, for saying
Europe needed its own army. At a
reception with Macron the following
morning, the U.S. president insisted
the two were still friends, “but the
stage had been set.” Skipping an
appearance to honor U.S. war dead
because of a little rain, Trump “had nothing on his schedule”
all afternoon until a dinner gala at the Musée d’Orsay, and even
there, he sneaked in through the back, avoiding the other guests.
The next day, rather than walk in the rain down the ChampsÉlysées
with some 60 other world leaders, Trump kept dry and
aloof by being driven to the Arc de Triomphe for the ceremony.
As a final “swipe at Macron,” he skipped the French president’s
Peace Forum and went to a cemetery for American soldiers instead,
calling that outing his best moment of the trip.
This is yet another sign that the U.S. and European Union
are headed for “divorce,” said Sylvie Kaufmann in Le Monde
(France). Trump has already pulled the U.S. out of the Paris
climate treaty and the Iran nuclear deal—two pacts European
leaders worked hard on—and he never misses a chance to bash
NATO members for failing to spend enough on their militaries.
Most distressing in this breakup,
though, is the realization that
Trump “no longer shares Europe’s
values”: human rights, democracy,
and a free press. And it’s not
just Trump—it’s the Americans
who elected him, said Stefan
Kornelius in Süddeutsche Zeitung
(Germany). This is a president
“who has unleashed the mob,
who lies and instigates on a mission
of destruction.” His America
“would rather call a few thousand
Latino refugees an invasion than
allow the FBI to investigate the
thousands of homegrown, violent
right-wing extremists and anti-Semites.” America won’t be a
partner for Europe until it exorcises its demons.
With the U.S. abdicating leadership and German Chancellor
Angela Merkel likely retiring soon, Macron has taken it upon
himself to assume the mantle of defender of Western values, said
Stefano Montefiori in Corriere della Sera (Italy). The French
president “made a show of his differences with Trump,” delivering
a stern warning against nationalism and selfish transactionalism.
Macron “ostentatiously placed himself again and again by
Merkel’s side to symbolize the value of reconciliation in the service
of Europe and of peace.” And Merkel seemed eager to help
him, even nuzzling his cheek in a spontaneous gesture of friendship
at the site of the Armistice. “If isolation wasn’t the solution
100 years ago,” Merkel said later, “how can it be today in such
an interconnected world?”