Personally, I'm more hopeful that good sense will break out in Israel, than I am that France can deflect the war party. Seriously. This will come down to Israel. France won't matter.
4
It’s good for him to have some voices that are better than his own inner voice and the cast of maniacs he’s assembled. On a given day he may take some advice as he’s so erratic he might just to spite his own people as in “I’ll do what I want.”
3
ethno- national bigotry? those that don't agree to regulations/decrees raining down from Brussels or US administrative state?
2
What a vast difference between Macron and Trump, the former an intelligent, and rational, individual that knows what he is doing. seeking cooperation instead of confrontation; and the latter a stupid bigot, and deeply ignorant, unable or unwilling to seek counsel and moderate his destructive impulses. If these guys are friends, what do they talk about?
4
Remember how Macron embarrassed Trump with his extra long hand shake and then Trump made a pass a Macron's wife.
Trump tolerates only toadies. Power awes him.
1
Irony of ironies, a Frenchman has to save the US from itself. Whilst I hope with Mr Cohen that President Macron can have some positive influence on Trump but surely that responsibility lies primarily with you, with Americans!? Right now, all of you, and yes that includes Democrats of all hues, are doing very little to influence him and stop him from doing his worst. The democrats have no alternative narrative for the US, there are no new leaders, no new vision for the country. The GOP has become a party of narrow interests and self-enrichment which cares little for what happens to the rest of us. I really do not care much about the supposedly heartfelt teeth gnashing a lot of my US Republican friends - and thankfully they are still friends - are doing, by their sheer inaction they enable him and by default approve of Trump's actions and behaviour. You Americans own this man and like it or not from the vantage point of the rest of the world, right now he represents, through your sheer inaction, who you are.
7
Writing from France. President Macron was elected for two reasons: 1) he is not Marine LePen & 2) the mainstream parties that have dominated French politics for decades had so compromised themselves by perpetuating a system of privilege and clientism at the expense the public good that they have lost all credibility. M. Macron was not elected because he is a maverick, but because he was the only bulwark against the extreme right. So far, Macron has made efforts to effect change in a sclerotic system using the instruments of a constitutional democracy. Whether one agrees with his neoliberal economics (I don't), everyone in France agrees that changes are necessary. M. Macron has not deviated from acceptable methods of promoting his idea of what those changes should be. He is perhaps vain and naive, but he's not a despot.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, was elected largely because of the U.S's peculiar, anachronistic electoral system, and his grotesque, cynical manipulation of themes dear to the Front National. Considering Trump's chaotic first year in office, this week's terrifying foreign policy decisions, his mendacity, ignorance, malignant narcissism and brazen contempt for the rule of law, it is difficult to imagine him listening to anyone. No doubt he sees M. Macron as a rube.
We are staggering toward the abyss. Mr. Cohen appears to want to whistle past the graveyard on the way and is hoping M. Macron can call a cheerful tune. "La Vie en Rose," perhaps.
3
Setting aside the bulk of the article, twaddle about the supposed Macron-Trump connection, it's interesting to see that Cohen now, finally realizes the importance of the mass migration issue for voters in Europe. I'm waiting for his column on Viktor Orban in which he says, "He's tough on immigration because he knows his survival depends on it." Better late than never, Roger . . .
3
One possibility: the Trump administration pulls out of the Iran deal; the EU and other involved nations stay with the deal; Iran decides that US sanctions don't matter so much, if the EU, China, and Russia continue to trade with them; the US winds up looking like ineffective bystanders due to this crazy administration. Could happen.
4
Theresa May and Angela Merkel (who I believe is the real leader now in the Westen alliance) are women. Thus beyond Trump's belief and acceptance of women in power. It is a failing but that is who we have elected as President. He prefers to have women under him (sorry no pun intended, I apologize to The Times readers of the comment section.)
We have to put up with him until the GOP Congress wakes up from its drunken orgy of handing over the Country's wealth to those that control their purse strings or a somewhat lesser evil, the Democrats gain power in Congress and restrain Mr. Trump.
Get used to it. No point railing against the obvious until we all vote in November to retire the GOP Congresspeople who are running for re-election.
5
While pretending to laud Trump ءCohen is actually serving his one and only cause .
Only to be expected with Europe not only regretting its past major blunder and a Trump whose friendship is rewarding .
Here I guess Mr Cohen is too clever by half !
France can only worry about only one cause:.maintainigba standing and reputation no longer rationnaly justified !
I think "friendship" is a deceptive word to use to describe politics, in any form.
1
Macron, charming, intelligent, energetic ... etc.
I have a second home in France and spend much of my time there. I arrived there from the USA last week, to find a flier in my mail, hand delivered by some dedicated foot soldier. A school in my village, a small but important institution in the town that trains teens and young adults who aren't "college material" in certain trades, has lost all its government funding and is being closed down.
400 people gathered and marched in protest against the "center-LEFT" government for this decision. Who was it that organized that march and put that flier in my mailbox? Who was it that responded to the legitimate concern of the little people in this little town far from Paris?
The Front National.
The LEFT should be ashamed.
4
"Macron, who at 40 could be Trump’s son..."
Macron at 55 could be Trump's son and may actually be his son. Perhaps that is why they have such a famously incomprehensible yet intimate relationship.
If MACRON able to influence US to pass the agreed Iranian nuclear treaty that will make FRANCE the acclaimed peacemaker. However the odds stacked against Europe with Trump surrounded by neo-cons pushing in every direction against the perceived enemies: CHINA and RUSSIA. France under pressure from powerful unions flexing their muscles with national strikes planned this summer. MACRON makes better speeches than HOLLANDE the previous President who seemed pointless even by French standards. France dreaming of a new Europe but Germany decides everything now including the fate of Britain taking a one-way trip down memory lane to oblivion.
1
The so called friendship between Macron and Trump is virtual and not real.The only common denominator between the two leaders is the hard-core neoliberal economic policy.Macron in France and Trump in America has reduced corporate tax from 33 percent to 21 percent and from 35 perecent to 20 percent, respectively. Both have favored the rich and wealthy at the peril of economically disadvantaged population in France and in America.It is not a Centrist Policy which both Macron and Trump would like to project.
Both Macron and Trump are pursuing overzealous anti-immigrant policy.
Concerning the Iran deal which Trump is determined to cancel is further advanced by his choice of newly designated National Security Advisor and The Secretary of the State.The two hawkish character has been brought in the Trump team since previous occupants of these two crucial diplomatic assignments were mature and sober,what has been called as the adult in the room.
Not much hopes be attached to the so called friendship between Macron and Trump.Neither of the two are trustworthy leader .Both are political novice and intellectually unsound and both are just working to regulate their respective political existence.They both lack vision as statesman.
1
"It is customary to contrast Trump and Macron: on the one hand the vulgar American businessman, with xenophobic and climate-skeptical tweets; on the other, the enlightened European spirit, concerned with dialogue between cultures and sustainable development. ...But if we take a closer look at the policies, we are struck by the similarities.
In particular, both Trump and Macron have enacted extremely close tax reforms, which in both cases represent an incredible leap forward in the tax dumping movement for the richest and most mobile.
..In the United States, the Senate has validated the outline of the Trump plan: the federal corporate income tax rate will be reduced from 35% to 20% ; a reduced rate of about 25% will be introduced for the income of business owners (instead of the top 40% income tax rate applicable to the highest salaries); and the inheritance tax will be sharply reduced for the highest fortunes (and even totally removed in the version adopted by the House).
Here is what it gives on the side of Macron and France: the rate of corporate tax will be reduced gradually from 33% to 25%; a reduced rate of 30% will be introduced for dividends and interest (instead of the 55% rate applicable to the highest salaries); and the wealth tax will be abolished for the highest financial and professional wealth (while the property tax has never been so heavy for the less wealthy)"
Thomas Picketty , Author, Capital in the 20th Century
6
So many people have faded in the background after havinf failed as "The one" who would moderate Trump. No Chief of Staff has done that; neither has any Cabinet Member. Not even the staggering responibility of the Presidency has dampened Trump's confidence in his own abilities and his own instinct. Macron will have no saving effect on Trump. Trump will be who he wants to be.
3
Macron walked over the dead bodies of the 'ESTABLISHMENT parties
to defeat Le Pen.He gave the impression that he was for change.
and was given a chance by the angry and left out who are
revolting against the the status quo allover the Western world.
If he ignores the fact that the current free market globalized world system
is in crisis and pursues the same policies in perhaps a prettier version Le Pen will double or triple her votes at the next elections.
All indications are that he is is moving the wrong way
4
Let us hope that trump's man crush on Macron allows Macron to have some level of influence. God only knows the rest of Europe is ignoring trump and are moving ahead without him.
3
Trump and Macron friends? I think not. Macron is not that stupid.
16
Macron, don't get your hopes up, his heart belongs to daddy!
2
#45 alone has made our international diplomacy severely problematic; the advent of Pompeo and Bolton into his administration has plunged us into the realm of catastrophic. Trump has no concept of how to deal with, nor any respect for, women heads of state, especially such as Merkel and May, who are leagues above him in intelligence. Mr. Macron, talented as he is, only has #45's ear occasionally, so there is very little chance of him influencing our Dunce-in-Chief. Bolton will dictate policy to Trump from here on. Just look at today's stock market for verification of same.
5
I have to laugh at the notion that Macron "came from nowhere": ENA? deputy chief of staff to Hollande, then a member of his cabinet? This is not a resume of bankruptcies, Reality TV, and gossip columns.
That said, we can only hope Macron exerts some influence on Trump, as you suggest. But why would Trump care?
12
Could there be something lost in the translation? Macron is an intellectual we are advised. Can he not distinguish a lie from a metaphor? Is a fact not a fact when a Frenchman converses with an English speaker?
Trump is who he is, whether talking to a Prime Minister or his wife -- number 1, 2 or 3. He cannot compete a sentence without a lie. Macron is too smart to think he can believe anything Trump says, but he is not yet sure Trump will accept what Macron has to say. We'll see but don't hold your breath.
My guess is that his French romance will last a bit longer than his love for the English Prime Minister. Theresa May is an English speaker and it took her less time to figure out his double talk. As for Angela Merkel, she picked it up right away.
Poor Trump, he will be left with Putin and Duterte to play with.
6
It is no surprise that Macron ends up as Trump's European friend. Trump does not like / cannot get along with women so the UK and Germany are out. The Netherlands, Denmark and the Scandinavian countries are so civilized that they probably cannot stand to talk to Trump. The Mediterranean countries are too Hispanic to appeal to Trump and so this leaves France and Macron.
I'm not sure what Macron gets out of it.
13
What were/are 'French ideals'?
Haiti, Vietnam, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Quebec and Algeria?
Who were French idealists? Charlemagne, Louis XVI, Robespierre, Napoleon, Dumas, Louverture, Petain, Ho, Lafayette, Tocqueville and De Gaulle?
What is the meaning of 'a friendship' between the French and American President?
11
What is the meaning of your comment? Quebec - seriously?
7
Ford is leading for provincial office..a trumpist.
Beyond French fries, Trump has no interest in France. He liked the Bastille Day parade too. Macron thinks he is different , smarter, than Merkel and May who keep their distance from Trump. It is Macron who is being played for a fool.
5
Macron decided to sell out (literally) his status in governmental officialdom to become a millionaire investment banker. This association between himself & Trump is a sort of gentleman's agreement to not step on one another's toes. Nothing more, nothing less. The global coterie marches on.
1
Why is it that any public policy which diminishes worker rights or reduces social benefits is invariably called "reform"?
Do workers of the world eat too well, and is the only sensible and mature course to make humanity poor -- at a time when we pretend to lament inequality?
So it would seem, reading this op-ed page. Call it the Davos/op-ed mind-set?
5
This is depressing. We are just about out of hope for restraint on Trump from inside the White House. Congressional Republicans long since rolled over. Now we're left to hope that the president of France can somehow moderate our president.
10
I hope you are speaking only for yourself.
2
Also, Macron is male. Trump begins with holding women in contempt.
3
We might as well ask the UN for peacekeeping forces to control our dangerous militants (Trump WH). We have fallen from world leader to world menace.
11
We "fell" when Obama was leading from behind, remember? We "fell" when Obama let Putin take what he wanted. We "fell" when Obama let Iran have the nuclear deal.
2
"We "fell" when Obama was leading from behind, remember?"
Leading from behind? Quoting Fox News is so passe now.
1
Roger, what France are you claiming is supportive of Macron, the former Sarkozy(now facing charges for accepting suitcases of money from Ghadaffi and later his son) crowd? Certainly the men and women who made France at one time the envy of the worlds working class and the reason for its livability, cannot be happy with an elitist product of E’Cole and Bank Rothschild trying to bring down the Unions, butchers, bakers and teachers pay. Maybe we should send them Betsy Devos and Jamie Dimon, this is the model you are supporting, one in which the pay of the rank and file goes down as the paychecks of the Corporate Gods went up an astoniskphing ten to twenty five percent last year, averaging $11,500,000.00 per head honcho. The demonstrations all over France protesting your and supposedly a Trumps buddy were met by Macrons thugs bearing clubs and water cannons speaks volumes or don’t you read your own paper any more. Macron is a pig in the worst possible reiteration of the neo liberal globalist mold.
5
This isn't a large sample, true, but I know two 30 yr olds in France who both are huge Macron supporters. One is a junior banker, the other an entrepreneur who owns his own wine tour business in Bordeaux. The young banker's parents are both school teachers (elementary and middle), so not elite by any means.
These two young men, each in his own way, see Macron as the way to a viable future for France. They each recognize that France is dying a slow death by clinging to a non-competitive unionized economy that is not just stagnating, it is becoming frozen in amber. Macron and his energetic young new legislature are focused, and determined to bring France fully into the 21st century. And they are willing to not be re-elected in order to do it, in part because they are so convinced that their proposed changes will work for France.
So what if the CGT and their supporters fill the streets with their "manifestations". So what if the SNCF goes on strike two days a week. These events are a national pastime in France. You just let them happen and legislate the reforms anyway. Macron is visionary, brave and bold. So are his followers. They're not afraid of the people, and they will bring necessary change to France. The young educated French entrepreneurs "get it". The rest of France will "get it" in time, after they have exhausted themselves marching in the streets.
1
We are in dire shape if the last bulkhead against Trump doing something stupid is France's Macron.
4
The European Union and Nato in particular have supported us in the middle east despite their reservations. But of we back out of the Iran Nuclear deal we would be mputing this support in danger..
The appointment of Jon Bolton is putting our friends in a querry.
France, although testy at times has been our constant ally since our founding.
Macron is a better politician than Trump and may be able to keep us from making a terrible mistake in refuting the nuclear deal.
The neocons are recognized as a danger to peace by our allies.
9
I was going to say the article is filled with stretched arguments byt then the final paragraph sets things right.
2
The “friendship” is DOA.
First on Donald Trump’s agenda (the one he woke up to today, at any rate) is the ending of the Iran nuclear arms agreement. New SecState Michael Pompeo has argued against it, but for different reasons than John Bolton.
Pompeo—like Trump—wants to efface—completely—the legacy of President Barack Obama—for reasons of racist spite. Bolton, on the other hand—has deeper reasons—he wants to militarize the globe, even If this means alienating our NATO allies—and giving Russia the final opportunity to unmask itself as our implacable enemy. The Trump-Putin alliance was always a “lavender marriage”—one brought into being by Trump’s financial liabilities and Putin’s desire to bring down the American eagle.
The new French president doesn’t know Trump like we do; he simply doesn’t have the history. He may have skillfully navigated the disparate straits of French politics to bring his centrist ship of state to port. No. 45, however, got there by exploiting the underside of American history and is frantically engaged in reworking it into a permanent norm, complete with the discarding of mutual alliances between “friends” and hard truths acknowledged between adversaries—truths, though, that accommodate differences while the underlying tensions stay the willing hand from unsheathing the sword.
It may be argued that France is a far more enlightened country than the U.S. President Macron bests Trump in several vital areas, not the least of which is common decency.
5
Roger may be right; or he could be wrong, there is no friendship, they're playing a game of chess.
Regardless, the larger issue is: Where is our Macron? Who is it? Why can't our political system deliver an intelligent, charismatic yet measured centrist?
Macron is unique in that he is a socialist who came to politics from the world of banking. American politicians who made their money in financial services are decidedly unfriendly to socialist philosophy, even if––witness, Obamacare; Social Security; Medicare––it's in the best interests of the majority of Americans.
Hélas, it seems impossible that we can have a Macron. Not with Citizens United as the law of the land.
5
This column is deeply flawed by the same wishful thinking the failed "adults in the room - theory" was already based on.
We all know what has happened to the "adults" in the last days. Nearly all of them had to go because their reasonable advice was the very thing Mr. Trump didn´t want to listen to at least. There is a growing tendency to "enforced comformity" when it comes to decision-making. At present he seems to get thin skinned and to get more and more fed up by doubters telling him not to do all the things he likes to do 24 hours a day so one after another had to leave. Obviously Mr. Trump is replacing them by persons with the same mindset - this means sharing a certain preference of bullying with him and encouraging him to go on with what is on his mind.
Actually Mr. Macron has avoided serious confrontation. As the last EU contact person he can act as the "good boy" and "my good friend" because there are some "bad girls" holding the stop signs when the going is getting tough. But as soon as Mr. Macron has also to get serious on decisions Mr. Trump has made and the only alternative left will be to take a fierce stand by resolutely joining the naysayers front he will be bulldozed away like Mr. Tillerson, Mr. McMaster and all the other internal opposionists in the very same minute.
Verbal objections are nothing but "conflict-entertainment" for Mr. Trump. He loves this. But true bulwarks giving objections all the day seem to be the very things he hates mosts.
1
Interesting dichotomy. The people have a problem. When the so-called adults in the room won't fix the problems with the Euro (let Greece suffer); when the adults in the room won't fix the problems with labor laws in the US (death to unions); when the adults in the room won't fix the trade issues with China (dumping, stealing IP,...); when the adults in the room can't get the leaders in the middle east to stop killing everyone who has a different god-image, who can be turned to? We keep reading that leaders need to listen to the adults in the room, but the so-called adults won't fix anything! If the adults in the room want more credibility, do something good for the middle class.
2
I am confident there is no "friendship" and that Macron shares the disgust and abhorrence that most French people feel for Trump. However, a shrewd politician like Macron will see if trying to get along with Trump, even as he erodes America's standing and leadership in the world, can benefit France.
Bonne chance Macron!
2
Don’t be so sure that all French people despise DT!
1
As an American expatriate, I traded in Trump for Macron which is the same as giving up on insanity as a way of life and adopting sanity in its place.
Despite a rocky start, Macron has found his sea legs and is sailing the French ship of state straight as an arrow toward a stable foreign policy, economic recovery, and civility with other heads of state regardless of differences of opinion.
Macron is returning France to a strong leadership role with a new emphasis on openness to other cultures and an encouragement for young French citizens to learn English as the accepted international language.
While encouraging French youth to explore other cultures, Macron has repeatedly invited talented Americans to adopt France as their new home and offer of economic opportunity.
This kind of open attitude is a revolution in French thinking and could well be a turning point for twenty first century France!
27
I spent the last 15 years of my career working on satellite technology to enable and advance climate science. No explanation needed as to why people like me are considered pariahs in the current administration.
Not long after the Nov. 2016 election I received via email an offer from the new Macron government that technologists working in the field of climate science to apply for a number of research positions in France under the new Macron government. Wow, what a difference one election makes.
I seriously thought about applying, but then decided to retire completely. But no matter; we're considering moving to France anyway. That's how I feel about matters on each side of the Atlantic. Thanks for your encouragement.
18
Michael, a bit surprised as I always like your comments, but There is no doubt Macron is a globalist tool of the neo liberal political elite so Im sure you will get your wish, the Americanization of France, and I thought you went there some time ago to get away from the insanity that has been America for a generation or more.
6
Terry, Good luck with your retirement plans in France or elsewhere. Try staying three months in one or more locations in France as a trial before committing to a move. Totally immerse yourself as if you are living permanently so you can sample all aspects of becoming an expatriate.
Shop in the super markets, go to weekly markets, prepare meals at home, and take a course in French even if you already speak the language relatively well. Meet your neighbors by playing local version of bowling or take classes in painting....there's a whole new life in retirement untethered to your previous lifestyle. Bonne chance!
10
Now that the last vestiges of moderating influence are being removed from the White House, apparently we need foreign leaders to put the brakes on the impulses of Trumpian vainglory.
Consider for a moment that domestic moderation was personified in Rex Tillerson, the man who almost single-handedly decimated American diplomatic capacity in one short year. Some moderation!
Can we really believe that Emmanuel Macron can effectively step into this breach? if so I have a few more Grimm fairy tales to tell you.
7
Vive la France! I am glad that Macron is celebrating his country and making his fellow Frenchmen proud. Here we are still proud but dismayed that Mr. Trump is destroying our ideals.It is important that Mr.Macron can inspire Mr.Trump and keep him tied to the European Alliance.Mr. Trump would never be cooperative with Ms.Mays or Angela Merkel because they are powerful women and Mr. Trump is intimidated by women who are competent and in charge.
10
Mr Cohen does not realize how dire the international situation has become. If he did, he would not write so lightheartedly on trifles.
2
Maybe I should move to France. I tremble at the catastrophe Trump and Bolton seem poised to bring upon the U.S. Have they learned nothing from the invasion of Iraq.
4
Bolton is a disaster. But McMaster was merely a right wing shill with stars on his shoulder. His partisanship, as with Kelly’s, raises great reason to fear for the the political neutrality we expect from the military.
1
Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are...
Who knew Putin reported to Macron?!?
1
I have no idea what this is about. Trump is so stupid, impulsive and out of any control that there is no evidence whatsoever that anyone can have any control over his erratic behavior. The ship of state is completely out of control and the Republicans are huddled in the mess hall under the tables.
21
High hopes.
One must wonder what it is about Trump that draws Macron, other than power generally and trade exceptions specifically. For Trump, it’s less opaque – he has no French, so he wouldn’t understand the occasional, under-breath “tu est un vrai sot!” in the absence of translators and while munching Big Macs.
The Enlightenment? To disagree one must first understand.
It also could be that Macron is angling in the epochal weakness of Angela Merkel: it would be a Gallic thing to do.
But it was a pretty weak “longing for disruption” that crowned Macron, about as pedestrian a bureaucrat and state-school-educated collectivist as France might have elected these days. You want disruption? I got your disruption: Trump.
Roger gives a lot of real estate to Iran, so I’ll respond. Trump may be the only world leader who seems to understand that the deal only buys us a few years of can-kicking, and the end of the road down which a can might be kicked could occur during his second term, when Iran violates the deal only a few years shy of the time when it gives out in 2030. There are limits to what an economic basket-case like North Korea can do with nukes, as asymmetric as they are. But Iran? Sans sanctions? (That’s “without sanctions”, Mr. President.) Once now-mature ICBMs are married to nuclear warheads, Iran becomes a North Korea of a different smell – and it ain’t kimchi.
Don’t assume that because Trump likes Macron that France’s young president will have any actual pull. Or does.
1
What makes you think that Macron is drawn to Trump. Since trump rejected the two prominent leaders in Europe who just happened to be women it would not be beyond them to turn to Macron to fill the void. Macron may or may not have any influence with trump but he at least can get an earful from him. After watching the three ring circus in the trump WH it would appear that no one really has any influence on trump other than a fleeting one.
Unlike Roger Cohen I do not find the two men similar at all. Macron right or wrong wants to effect real change in France and he has a clear agenda. Trump's only agenda is to enrich himself, build a more significant brand and secure himself as a permanent celebrity recognized all over the world. Everything else from his tweets, to his wall with Mexico, to his trade sanctions, to his firings of personnel are just a cover, a smoke screen. The chaos he creates deflects attention from what is going on behind the curtain which is why he is so frightened by the money trail Mueller keeps following. It all will lead back to Donald.
In the meantime Macron will do what he has to do when and if the time comes, but so far trump is all show and no go.
3
It's fascinating to compare Cohen's rapturous commentary when Macron was elected to his more measured tone now.
Macron's accomplishments to date are unimpressive, and his timeline for making France a "startup nation" is based on the 20th century clock speed, not the 21st. So it's difficult to see a positive outcome for France. The challenges are monumental.
And he's about to embark upon one of his biggest challenges: waging economic war on the Boomers of France, by transferring wealth and income from those over the age of 50 to the Millennials, who were decimated by the financial and the Euro crises.
As a result, there's now a lost generation across Europe.
He, the IMF, and the EU bureaucrats are drawing up the details of how to reduce pensions and increase taxes on the elderly in order to pay for "training" and "make work" jobs to address the youth unemployment and poverty problems across Europe, which threaten its stability.
He's the leader of Europe now. So he owns it.
Merkel is finished. After her, there's nobody capable of leading a parade, much less a continent, except Macron.
Every time he says "innovation", that means "young people replacing old geezers set in their ways that are holding France back". And every time he talks about a "startup nation", it means, "Get out of the way, Boomers".
His relationship with Trump is unsurprising and is a good thing. But he'd do well to focus on cleaning up the mess Merkel left, and trying to hold the EU together.
With all apologies to Cohen, whose writing I like, but Thomas Piketty (of Capital in the 20th's Century fame) did this analyze this relationship better.
"on one hand, the vulgar American businessman, with xenophobic and climatosceptic tweets; on the other, the enlightened European spirit, concerned with the dialogue of cultures and sustainable development.
But if we take a closer look at the policies, we are struck by the similarities.
In particular, Trump and Macron have just adopted tax reforms that are extremely similar, and in both cases represent an incredible leap forward in the lowering the taxes for the richest and most mobile."
Picketty then provides to a quantitative analysis ow Macron and Trump pursue identical economic politics that benefit the rich
In France, Macron is nicknamed le président des plus riches, the President of the most rich. He compares himself to Jupiter, and has adopted Trump style signing of legislation in his office, cameras rolling.
Their friendship is one between egomaniacs.
http://piketty.blog.lemonde.fr/2017/12/12/trump-macron-meme-combat/
http://www.liberation.fr/france/2018/01/15/ofce-avec-macron-le-jackpot-p...
3
Some précisions : in France, Piketty is considered as a leftist économist who was supporting B. Hamon, the Socialist candidate, for the last présidentiall elections, against Macron. Hamon did 6%… and the socialiste party is crushed, mashed, smashed. Macron is not called the "président des plus riches" but "the président des riches" which is enough, and that only by the left and extreme-left. Macron never said he was "Jupiter", too clever for that, but that he wanted to give back some" jupiterian authority" to the function of the presidency, weakened by 5 years of the poor "normal" Hollande.
1
President Trump hopefully will take strong action against both Iran and North Korea. Both of these rogue regimes have been violating international law for decades. America has said countless times that the international community would not stand for the actions of the rogue regime, but they have. In the 1930's the international community failed to act. We know how that turned out. America through President Trump (and now Bolton) will either persuade these countries to change their behavior or utilize our military might to end their threat.
Actions have reactions, what could possibly go wrong?
Well indeed, let's hope that E. Macron can have some influence on D. Trump, which could assuage current tensions and risks on the international scene. But it would be wishful-thinking to believe that he alone can make them disappear and avoid the risks of open conflicts that you describe. As much as I don't think E. Macron would fall in that trap, I believe that it is first and foremost, a responsibility and duty for the American people as a whole, especially those in a position of power, to make sure their President does not take steps driving their country into war.
1
Trump and Macron are accidents of history. But Macron is a happy accident for the French people and Europe. Trump is a catastrophic accident for Americans and the world. Emmanuel Macron is a Centrist in Europe, Trump is an Extremist and white supremacist and xenophobe. Roger Ciohen, there is no room for friendship between the two of them, though there is a wee gnat of potential for friendship. That wee gnat will be squashed quick if Trump's behaviour becomes more demented and incoherent due to investigations into his alleged transactions with Vladimir Putin and the plethora of playmates he dallied and sexually harrassed all over America from New York City to Florida to Tahoe to Beverly Hills in the years after his marriage to Melania Knauss Trump. Trump is betraying America as he betrayed his third wife and second and first wives. There is no hope in looking toward a future friendship between America and France, between our bullying and unfit president Trump and the ebullient and honest French president Macron.
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I’m afraid the Roger is grasping at straws here. Is there any evidence whatsoever the Mr. Trump has friends whose council he takes to heart? In addition to being a foolhardy, aggressive bully in his policies, the man shows all the signs of being narcissistic, paranoid, manipulative, and pathologically self centered as a person. There is no bromance with Macron; nor with Putin (who, for all his faults, would certainly forestall US abrogation of the Iran deal or preemptive attack in Korea).
If Macron wants the mitigate Trump’s threat to peace, he will have to work with other heads of state to make the price of unilateral US military aggression very high. One thing Trump does have a history of respecting is power.
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So it becomes Macron's duty, yes, duty, to save the American voters and their arcane Electoral College from themselves? Roger, who stuck you with this debate topic? Surely you can criticize the real faults of Trump and the horse he rode in on without indulging your Francophobia?
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At the center of the Trump vortex, is the vacuous character of the man himself: shallow, vain, stupid, and--let's be blunt--essentially criminal. If Macron has any influence over Trump, it is simply because Gallic flattery agrees with his insatiable need for approval. But Macron's meager influence will vanish as soon as the Trump presidency faces imminent collapse. This has already begun to happen. Bolton and the Di Genova were not brought into the White House for any expertise they provide; they are there to man the battlements of fortress Trump. The entire world should brace itself for the impending disaster.
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Macron is a smooth and smart operator.
He understands Trump’s hot buttons, and has managed to position himself as the new generation european leader, as May’s and Merkel’s stars fade. Macron understands the power shift caused by Brexit and want to position France, and Europe smartly. Macron understands world politics. Trump does not.
From “the handshake” during their first meeting, to taking jabs at Trump in his Davos speech in January, Macron is just playing Trump smartly. I am sure that when Trump commented on Macron’s “hot wife” in Paris, Macron knew he had the upper hand.
Mr Cohen makes certain political parallels between the two, but I think they are only anecdotal. Macron is a well-educated intellectual, who has studied in the best schools, with a Masters of Public Affairs and attended the prestigious ENA (National School of Public Administration) and was a member of Hollande’s government. He was also an investment banker at Rothschild Bank. Oh, and did I mention he was member of the Socialist party?
It is unfortunate that America must now hope and rely on allies and other leaders as "insurance" to keep their own leader in check. But if Macron can help in avoiding US-led irreversible catastrophes, more power to him.
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Macron never actually was a member of the Socialist Party (PS), which made his appointment as Deputy Secretary of the Elysée and then Minister of Economics under the Valls government all the more surprising.
It's a superficial friendship. Trump is an imressionable, narcissistic man with an inferiority complex. Macron has played him well, so that Trump says nice things about him. (Inviting Trump to the Bastille Day parade yielded greater rewards than Macron probably anticipated.) But, in the end, I think Trump will listen more to Bolton and Pompeo than to Macron.
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Randonneur, I agree...world leaders have figured out how to play Trump through his inferiority complex. He's in over his head. That pouty pose he takes? He thinks an imitation of Churchill will give him an appearance of gravitas. Since he has no producer telling him what to say he is cajoled by a few courtiers and repeats a few statements over and over again. He can barely read a prepared speech. Macron is rich (although not by Trump's standards), principled, and intelligent; and therefore not on the make like the Trump family. He hit the road running and no public protest will move him from implementing the agenda he ran on. He has five years and I don't think he cares about re-election. If not optimistic, the French are giving him a chance. If they can maintain their focus on the social contract - the priority since their revolution - and make reasonable labor reforms France will once again be a leading force and economic power in Europe.
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you think Macron can influence the trumpster? with what? a parade? get real.
So, we have come to the nadir of our country. We must rely on the president of France as "a bulwark against all the destructiveness Trump has embraced.”
The United States has become so feckless that we have to hope that a friendly foreign leader deters our president from starting a war with Iran. Or North Korea. Or both.
We have seen the destruction of a score of men armed with plastic boxcutters commandeering three planes to fly them into our buildings. Imagine how nation states armed with nuclear weapons will respond if we attack them first.
From the Gulf of Tonkin to the Persian Gulf, Congress has abandoned its constitutional duty to declare when we are at war or peace. For reasons that started out as dubious and ended up as fraudulent, Congress surrendered our nation to armed conflicts paid in American blood and trillions of dollars—debts that we will carry for generations.
The Founders wisely separated the power of declaring war from the Executive Branch. Its time for Congress to assert its power for peace.
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I see no friendship here. Only our buffoon-in-chief trying to tie himself to any available successful European politician too make himself look good.
Macron strikes me as a European progressive that has the power trough the French Assembly to actually make structural changes that most of France seems to agree with or at least will go along with.
Our own Trumpolini has no such support. He has little understanding, if any, of how to move the Congress and the public as shown by his low job approval ratings. His only motivation his own sex life and money.
I always read Roger Cohen's columns with interest. But this one is built on a non-existent premise.
Resist.
Macron and Trump don't have anything in common. Macron is an intellectual, whereas Trump .....
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At least (based on his choice of mate) Macron has respect for a wonam's wisdom and is unlikely to treat woman wit disrespect.
even thought the French tend not to care about such things, I suspect that there will be no sex scandals during the Macron presidency and therefore fewer distractions.
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Mark Thomason nails the fallacy that animates this column. Trump doesn't have friends. He relates to people according to their usefulness. He praises Putin either because he identifies with him as a role model or because the Russian has some hold over him. Neither describes Trump's connection with Macron.
Trump may like the French president because the latter doesn't treat him with the ice-cold contempt that Angela Merkel does. Even if true, however, what passes for affection in our president would not change his character, which causes him to disregard advice that fails to confirm his own judgment. President Macron, fortunately for him, doesn't work for Trump, or he might suffer the same fate as American officials who proffered recommendations our leader didn't like.
No, Trump marches to the beat of a different drummer, an untrained musician whose cadence the president confuses with the majestic sound of an applauding audience. It will take the voters of this country a very long time to expunge the shame of projecting this man onto the international stage.
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I've given up on trying to 'save us' from Trump; it's like the enabler of a violent alcoholic - making excuses until the next beating.
You talk about '...Macron’s labor-market reforms', which I'm sure are complex, but one part is the readjustment of what 'workers' live's are. What does France have for the common, working French?
You talk about immigration. Well, if France is cutting what the average citizen can expect out of life, then how can more people coming into the country be a good thing? I'm tired of the 'compassion' argument; that rings hollow.
The world's workers, including the luckier middle class workers, are the puppets in a venal puppet show. The world's billionaires are very happy, very much in control and enjoying the redistribution of wealth their way. So, immigration? What about inequality and concentration of wealth, income, property and power? What about all that?
We deserve Trump and the so-called 'populists', for we have done nothing for 'the People' here or in other countries. We create worse and worse inequity and inequality, and then wonder, how could Trump get elected? Selective memory, selective morality.
We the People must deliver: compassion, truth, equality, clean energy, affordable housing and health care, mass transit, etc.
Democrats, wake up, stand and deliver.
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As he does with literally everyone who isn't family, Trump will eventually subject Macron to his time in the barrel. Macron, whose little toe is smarter than Trump, certainly knows this. What Trump gets from this relationship is one source of international recognition. What Macron gets is not at all clear.
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I am compelled to reject as wishful, a hybrid "great man" theory that there's anybody out there that this President will listen to as they speak sense to him out of some sense of shared background, purpose or mandate. I am greatly concerned that, to the extent that Mr. Trump ever surrounded himself with anybody in a position to give thoughtful, learned and objective advice worthy of the nation and its security, he is now rapidly ejecting anybody who fails to rubber stamp his myopic world view and completing the process of surrounding himself with economic yes men, administrative raiders and now, most troubling of all - hawks. The Emperor has NO clothes, Mr. Cohen. None at all.
Oh come on. I can understand at the beginning if this administration forming plans to work with it, but now? At this point? I would reckon most of our allies are looking at this Trump farce much as people looked at the Hindenburg crashing. I doubt many were saying, "Oh yeah, gotta make sure my zeppelin investments are all solid and in on this."
This is not the Bush Jr. era. Trump has no poodles.
When did Trump ever “listen” to anyone other than himself? When did he ever “learn” anything except from fox and friends mouthpieces?
So why think he will not militarily strike Iran? So why think if Iran fights back, he will not escalate with nuclear weapons to get a “win?” Who will stop him? Israel will applaud, Saudi Arabia will venerate, Putin will smirk, and our feckless European allies will remain feckless.
There is no way that Macron can see Trump as a friend. But Macron is smart and a politician. There is no way you can become president out of almost nowhere without an established political party in a country that has a system close to a 2 or 3-party system.
Macron is kind of an "centrist extremist". He dares things and has style. He made Trump's visit as grand as he could (smart move) and played his game in the small things (remember that hand shake).
In the end, it probably won't amount to much but with a Trump presidency that does or hesitate to do dozens of very stupid things, it is good that Trump will at least listen to Macron without the mindset he has when listening to say Obama (that is: whatever he says, I'll do the opposite).
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I find the parallels between both leaders and the concept of 'friendship' between both leaders referred to in this column to be far-fedged. The fact that some leaders try to look like friends (and in fact many of them do) towards Trump does not mean they share a friendship with him in my view, more like they try not to be in Trump's cross-fire.
"Restored greatness".
That is the obsession of the lost—the legions of people who are disenfranchised from state power, because of the myriads of reasons we read about everyday.
It might just be that "the state", as we've known it, is in its deathbed. France and America's commonality is being two of the first modern countries on the planet. Are these two modern nations clinging to each other at the end of the Enlightenment's revolutionary odyssey?
There are too many waves of change destroying the underpinnings of the world that we have known. It's overwhelming, and overcoming how we view the state, institutions, and each other. Nothing is in a fixed position. People are unmoored and looking for solace in Fakebook's many narrow valleys.
Perhaps how we lived before the Ones and Zeroes fell to earth was a conceit; and now the mask has fallen. Perhaps... well, perhaps many things. But I don't think Macron can do anything but stave off the decline.
There are two traits of character that make Macron and Trump close:
1. Macron speaks excellent English, even though without "a typically charming French accent", which Trump should understand.
2. Both show disrespect to dress code. Trump wears an unbuttoned coat and an overlong tie, and Macron's tie knot is far from what it should be -- a symmetric isosceles triangle.
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Apples and oranges! Perhaps in this case rotten apples and freshly picked oranges. Their backgrounds could not have been more different.
Macron was the son of a physician and a scientist, (neurologist). His majored in philosophy to attain his first degree. It is said that he likes to read.
Trump was the son of a builder, (large projects) in a very competitive and corrupt city. I was raised in Brooklyn, two years younger than Trump.
I distinctly remember my dad driving me to visit someone near the newly completed Trump Village. His close buddy was about to move there. He mentioned that he doubted it would ever be brought to fruition, because of all the backroom deals that had to be made. But those deals were made and Trump got his education.
Age, genetics and acculturation, they are very different fruits.
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Macron’s performance in office thus far has been far superior to that of Trump. It’s remarkable to this point how much better he is at politics as a newcomer to the French system than Trump whose style is one of chaos rather than pursuading beyond his base.
It all comes down to Macron is a United and Trump the divider. Perhaps Trump wishes he could be as dynamic but the personality disorder just can’t make it happen.
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Macron had the two choices, shun Trump or talk to him; to his credit he choose the later. To say they are friends is a stretch. So far, Macron is talking to everyone. Its part of his 'France is back' strategy; much better than the poor ones we've had the past 30 years.
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I reject the basic premise in this piece. Macron's political rise bear no relation to Trump's; there is no analogy at all. Macron, whether you like him or not (and I do) is a thoughtful, highly educated, hard working intellectual. Trump is a know-nothing TV personality without any coherent views on anything. My guess is that Macron is trying to ensure that things do not go totally haywire and is willing to talk to Trump to keep abreast of what he might do next. Macron is acting as the security guard of the Western alliance. I imagine that, like most Americans, he is praying for the day when we can speak of this disastrous American presidency in the past tense.
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It seems to me that this article is premature in its depiction of a friendly relationship between Trump’s America and its “oldest ally.” Transatlantic relations are pretty testy as of the last couple of decades. Having a friend in Trump, if this friendship has substance, is probably a huge indictment of Macron. It seems that the centrist French president has just declared war on France’s powerful rail unions, hoping to claw back benefits that he views as onerous, just as the war against the unions reignites in America. Whatever their divergent views are, where they do converge, it’s apparently not a good thing for the working class.
Macron will suffer for this alliance, if, indeed, one does truly exist, because the left leaning French will not wear Trump. Macron will be pilloried for his own stances and for his guilt by association with the nation that brought liberty fries to the global palate.
19
I guess Europe better brace itself for another wave of Middle Eastern refugees.
From a European perspective, the Trump administration is like an upstairs neighbor whose bathtub is overflowing but he refuses to close the tap. You'd call the police, except you can't because he IS the police.
With friends like these, Europe does not need enemies. But it has plenty of those as well.
Merkel was right. Europe is on its own.
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... sadly so. And Vladimir Putin is salivating, waiting for the right moment to pounce ... it won't be long now.
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Trump may like Macron. They may have some things in common in their political places against their establishments. They may even agree on some things.
However, Cohen likes Macron for the things about which he disagrees with Trump. Cohen is hoping to bring the disagreements to the fore, and have Trump concede to Macron on those disagreements. That is unlikely.
First, Macron has no leverage, he brings nothing to the table to get that but a smile and a handshake.
Second, Trump is just not that sort of guy. He's a bully, and rolls right over guys like Macron. He always has. He's like Netanyahu, but with less of the insider political skill -- his bulldozing is done by confrontation not back room deals.
This is a dream, entirely unrealistic. It would be pretty if it were so.
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I agree. But what can you do in the dark but whistle?
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Dear Mark Thomason,
You are exactly right. Trump does whatever he wants and if someone wants to be his supporter great. Otherwise he will just plow ahead and shout down any arguments contrary to his own.
5
Why is this not a NYT pick?
1