Macron and Trump as Pals? Non!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/24/opinion/macron-france-trump.html

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To the Editor:

Re “Cozying Up to Trump, Macron Gets Little Reward” (front page, April 23):

Having lived in and reported on France, I don’t believe for a minute that President Emmanuel Macron is “close” to President Trump in the sense of having a personal rapport. Mr. Trump is the epitome of vulgarity, a loathed trait in France, especially in the upper levels of society (note how Nicolas Sarkozy was ridiculed as “le président bling-bling”).

At the same time, Mr. Macron surely sees how desperately Mr. Trump wants to be seen as “classy,” and France still represents classiness. So he may lay on la bise — the kiss on both cheeks — and other superficial trappings of French culture, while feeling disgust and contempt, to try to achieve his ends.

I’m not privy to Mr. Macron’s inner thoughts, but it seems naïvely America-centric to assume that he and Mr. Trump are good friends.

JULIA LICHTBLAU, BROOKLYN