French President Emmanuel Macron responded this Thursday to his American counterpart, Donald Trump, that his comments about his marriage to Brigitte “are neither elegant nor up to par.”
Trump mocked Macron at a private lunch on Wednesday, according to a video briefly aired on the White House YouTube channel that was later blocked.
“I’m calling France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly. He’s still recovering from the blow to the jaw,” Trump said with a slight smile, referring to a video that went viral last May, in which Brigitte Macron is seen slapping her husband in the face before getting off the plane that took them to Vietnam.
At the time, Macron said they were “joking.” This Thursday he disapproved of Trump’s words but did not want to go into the substance.
These statements “are neither elegant nor up to the mark,” Macron said on the first day of a state visit to South Korea. “They don’t deserve a response,” he added.
Trump mentioned marriage
Donald mentioned the Macrons’ marriage during a conversation in which he explained having spoken to the French president about the war in the Middle East, to ask if he could count on his help.
He also claimed to have told his French counterpart: “Emmanuel, we would love to have some help in the Gulf, although we are breaking records in eliminating bad guys and shooting down ballistic missiles. We would love to have some help. If you could, could you send ships right away?”
Changing his intonation, the Republican reproduced Macron’s alleged response. “‘No, no, no, we can’t do that, Donald. We can do it after the war has been won.'”
“And I said, ‘No, no, I don’t need it to be after the war has been won, Emmanuel,'” Trump said.
He also called NATO a “paper tiger,” in yet another attack on the transatlantic alliance.
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