Sucking up to Donald Trump is the order of the day as the European allies calculate what his imminent return to the White House means for them. The consensus seems to be that massaging his ego with shameless flattery is the best way to avoid a repeat of past bust-ups and name-calling. But another school of thought warns: Trump will be far worse this time. Know your enemy. Prepare to fight back.
The US president-elect’s appearance in Paris this weekend, at the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral, is akin to throwing down a gauntlet. A nightmare Europeans believed was over has come back to haunt them. It’s real. He’s here again, demanding attention and obeisance. The fawning responses of politicians who previously reviled him speak volumes about Europe’s weakness and divisions.
It’s all rather embarrassing. Cloying praise is genuine in the case of Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, and hard-right populists like Călin Georgescu, who styles himself as Romania’s Trump. The bromantic gestures of Emmanuel Macron, France’s inconstant president, are more disingenuous. He was one of the first to congratulate Trump on his election victory. Having him come to Paris is seen, rather pathetically, as a diplomatic coup.
Trump is not known for measured responses. If he feels like he needs to retaliate for something, expect the simplest, clumsiest, most damaging response.
For example, why do you think he jumped straight to the idea of tariffs? If you imagine a tariff as a wall, then it’s exactly the same as “build a wall and make [the other side] pay for it”.
As such, you’ve got to have him believe you’re being nice, even if you’re not, because if he thinks for one moment you’re not genuine, he’ll lash out like the spoiled child he is.