Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron are back in France and have left the American public with lots to talk about and even more to think through.<\/p>\n
President Trump has a way of bullying those who arrive as “important guests” both domestic and foreign from the moment he holds out his hand to shake theirs. \u00a0The only person on whom he did not use this bullying handshake was Vladimir Putin. \u00a0Trump has a bullying handshake where he makes the person on the other side wince as he pulls their arm and then the rest of their body towards him with one of the most bullying handshakes I have ever seen.<\/p>\n
Emmanuel Macron was no exception. \u00a0Macron, however, has made it his mission not be bullied by this handshake nor to be passive in an attitude of acceptance with a “this too shall pass” sub-text. \u00a0He has taken on Trump’s handshake and given back which, during this visit, \u00a0resulted in an amazing display.<\/p>\n
The media and many others took it as a “bromance”. \u00a0To say they missed the point is to say they exist in a society which accepts and does its best to ignore and deny sexual abuse in its many forms. \u00a0That is exactly what we saw Emmanuel Macron put through during his trip to these United States.<\/p>\n
President Macron, however, gave the country an exquisite example of how to handle such a bullying. \u00a0Bullying of all kind will be with us forever if we don’t start calling it what it is when we see someone being bullied instead of finding other ways to describe what we know is an act of unashamed bullying. \u00a0That could have been an example of a woman being abused and I think the media would have talked about a budding romance instead of stepping in to stop the atrocity – which is what we saw acted out before the world.<\/p>\n
Trump’s initial handshake was returned in kind and Trump’s bullying was on high display as he responded to the need to push Macron down to puff himself up – in front of the world. \u00a0I hope others have the guts and insight to come forward to condemn the display President Trump put on as his ego kept pushing him to uglier heights. \u00a0Not even children would have participated in that dandruff act.<\/p>\n
Not to be deterred by how ugly he was appearing to all, Mr. Trump continued trying to oppress and subjugate President Macron and Macron’s response should be in a book on bullying as one person’s way of brilliantly handling an extremely distressful and continuous almost non-stop display of oppression and bullying. \u00a0Instead of seeing and commenting on what was actually happening, the media continued to claim – “they must like each other.”<\/p>\n
Beginning with the handshake, Trump practically bowled Macron over as he tried to pull him towards himself. \u00a0Macron responded by maintaining and giving back to Trump what he got from the handshake and responding and making it about the ‘French Kiss” by putting his arm around Trump and kissing him on both cheeks. \u00a0Since it seems possible that Trump goes both ways, President Macron’s attempts didn’t land the way he intended.<\/p>\n
and on and on it went.<\/p>\n
Clearly, Macron’s response – his coup de grace – was put forward during his speech to the American Congress during which Macron laid out his policies and ideas including almost all of Trump’s policy stances and the beliefs Trump has made a part of his ‘reign’ as president. \u00a0 President Emmanuel Macron’s stances were totally opposite to Donald Trump’s. \u00a0In giving that speech, President Macron did not wince, pull back, chance his beliefs, etc. \u00a0He was forthright, forthcoming and clear and he had the American Congress with him – showing where they really stood when any possible attempts at blackmail, bullying, pushing were removed and one could respond as one felt.<\/p>\n
Clearly, Melanie Trump showed she was truly the wife and soul mate of Donald Trump when she appeared in the white suit with hat which at one point moved Brigitte Macron out of the picture. \u00a0When she appeared with “the Don” it was clear the arrogance and posturing of one was totally acceptable and generated pride in the other. \u00a0They appeared in a strong statement which looked totally out of place for the company, the situation, the reflection of herself as hostess. \u00a0She was clearly uncaring about Brigitte Macron and was only out to outshine and put forth her worth – which she apparently holds as her body and what she puts on it. The sexist male – the misogynist male has a female counterpart whose chief value is invested in how she looks. \u00a0It was an outsized look and had a very hard edge which did not show as the hostess, but as the guest attempting to outshine all the other guests.<\/p>\n
In his speech to Congress, President Macron came across as human, compassionate and seriously working to make this a better world for the least of these. \u00a0His wife, Brigitte, looked like a caring, compassionate and serious person who was working with her husband and while her dress was quite elegant, it was also very human. \u00a0She was not trying to outshine, outdo, send out an image to puff herself up or any of that. \u00a0She was dressed in a lovely “human’ way. \u00a0The contrast was astounding.<\/p>\n
As I looked at all of that my mind brought me back to Barbara Bush’s funeral and life. \u00a0Her funeral, for me, was a brief moment of public respite. At the end, she gave us a time to reflect, to think, to move away from the upheaval – panic – intensity of nothingness – the passionate hiding of something unsavory. \u00a0There was no name calling; no trying to upstage and outshine; no arrogance; no posturing; just people coming to witness to the life of someone they knew either as a close friend or in her capacity as mother, wife, First Lady, volunteer, helper to those in need, etc. \u00a0Somehow, I could not see Melanie Trump ever being such a lovely, humble person who knew who she was and presented herself not as an artificial model using her body to sell whatever it was she was selling. \u00a0The hat ruined the suit and showed a person with a very hard edge who was anything but a warm, caring human being. \u00a0I have yet to see any of those qualities in either Melanie or Donald Trump and that white hat and suit emphasized the arrogance, artificiality and lying image of the couple. \u00a0What is a ‘lying image”? \u00a0Presenting oneself as an image projecting not who you are but projecting that which one needs to show to make public one’s concept of power and control and that ‘better than’ attitude so constantly projected by the Kushner\/Trump family.<\/p>\n
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