At a 2017 G-7 meeting in Italy, the other leaders took a walk through a Sicilian street. Trump took a golf cart.
“While Macron, Merkel, Erdogan, Trudeau and more than 80 world leaders & leaders of major world organizations arrived in buses, walking solemnly in the rain together to take their places under the Arc de Triomphe, Trump arrived solo in his own motorcade.” https://t.co/tO9n309fo7— Borzou Daragahi 🖊🗒 (@borzou) November 11, 2018
Tim Hains at RCP:
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Sunday, to take part in a ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I.
Putin shook hands with US President Donald Trump before the ceremony, and flashed him a friendly thumbs up too.
Luke Baker at Reuters:
French President Emmanuel Macron used an address to world leaders gathered in Paris for Armistice commemorations on Sunday to send a stern message about the dangers of nationalism, calling it a betrayal of moral values.
With U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin sitting just a few feet away listening to the speech via translation earpieces, Macron denounced those who evoke nationalist sentiment to disadvantage others.
“Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism: nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” Macron said in a 20-minute address delivered from under the Arc de Triomphe to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One.
“By pursuing our own interests first, with no regard to others’, we erase the very thing that a nation holds most precious, that which gives it life and makes it great: its moral values.”
Trump, who has pursued “America First” policies since entering the White House and in the run-up to the congressional elections this month declared himself a “nationalist”, sat still and stony-faced in the front row as Macron spoke.Nancy Cook at Politico:
President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel his visit to an American military cemetery outside of Paris threatened to overshadow his trip here, as government officials, historians, and fellow Republicans hammered him for more than 24 hours for that move.
“President@realDonaldTrump a no-show because of raindrops? Those veterans the president didn’t bother to honor fought in the rain, in the mud, in the snow — & many died in trenches for the cause of freedom. Rain didn’t stop them & it shouldn’t have stopped an American president,” wrote former Secretary of State John Kerry, a veteran of the Vietnam War.
The internet lit up Saturday and Sunday with images of other world leaders braving gray skies to lay wreaths, unveil plaques, and pay their respects at memorial and cemeteries outside of Paris during a weekend to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel lay a floral wreath on Saturday afternoon at Compiègne, the site where the agreement that stopped World War I was signed. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visited the World War I battlefield, Vimy Ridge, where he greeted Canadian veterans.
The White House opted to drop the trip for the president due to rainy weather because the president’s Marine One helicopter cannot fly in rain or fog.Peter Baker and Adam Nossiter at NYT:
Mr. Trump remains deeply unpopular in Europe, especially in France, where just 9 percent think he will do the right thing in international relations, according to the Pew Research Center. The president’s seeming indifference to European sensibilities was reinforced by a report in Le Monde, the French newspaper, that in a meeting with the leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania earlier this year, Mr. Trump confused the Baltic states for Balkan states and blamed them for the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
In today’s @lemondefr: When #Trump received the leaders of #Estonia, #Latvia and #Lithuania, he began by blaming them for the war in Yugoslavia. It took them a few moments to realise he’d mixed up the Balkans and the Baltics. @SylvieKauffmann pic.twitter.com/HYQYpbqgGs— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) November 10, 2018
