A once-friendly world leader turned the tables on President Donald Trump by blasting his latest attempts to score political points off a crisis abroad.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday blasted what he called “unacceptable” and “stupid” comments from foreign leaders about the turmoil in his country, and when a reporter asked if he meant Trump, he replied, “Among others,” the Associated Press reported.
France has been rocked by rioting and looting that grew out of protests over the rising cost of living. Trump has seized on the violence to energize his supporters, claiming without evidence that Muslim migrants are to blame and urging Macron to “close your borders and take control before it is too late!”
Macron said there “has been foreign manipulation of information in the aftermath” of last weekend’s looting in Paris and other cities.
“And that has led to comments that are as unacceptable as they are stupid, from many people, including foreign leaders,” he said.
The French leader also pointed to “AI-generated images depicting scenes that never actually happened in France.”
“We’ve had people claiming that we were invaded by hordes of migrants and Islamists, which is completely false,” he said.
The two leaders were once on friendly terms, but Trump now routinely ridicules Macron in his speeches.
“The fact is, all the people who are speaking ill of our country right now are people who don’t love our country,” Macron said. “So those people really bother me.”
He went further, taking aim at politicians “in the middle of election campaigns, whether in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic.”
“They’re using our country for their own political campaigns,” he said. “And we don’t need that.”
Macron made the remarks in Qatar as he wrapped up a swing through Gulf states aimed at shoring up fuel supplies amid France’s energy crunch, the AP noted.
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