Trump's Popularity Rises in France as Macron's Favorability Plummets If the penultimate letter of the alphabet appears in the spelling of the day of the week, there’s likely to be some ginned-up outrage in the media involving Donald Trump. Now that he’s in France to mark the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, the latest scandale concernant le président involves Trump’s tweet that French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a European army is “very insulting.” “President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!” Trump tweeted. According to CNBC, things are actually kind of OK on that end, with both leaders saying they wanted a strong NATO and that France ought to pay its fair sharee. Macron said his European military was consistent with this goal and Trump seemed more or less willing to let this slide. You might expect that Donald Trump isn’t beloved among the Citroën-driving masses of Gaul, given that these are people who mostly adore Jean-Paul Sartre, François Mitterand and Jerry Lewis. And while you’re kind of right, you’re probably not as correct as you think you are. Perhaps more ominously (at least for Macron), the American president seems to be getting a lot more popular over there while the French president is getting a lot less popular. “While President Trump is still viewed unfavorably by the majority of French people, the popularity of the American leader has steadily gained by around 16 percent per year since he took office in January of 2017,” Breitbart reported on Saturday, citing figures from the French-language newspaper Le Figaro. “Initially, the U.S. leader’s unfavorability among French sat at 81 percent in November of 2017, but this has been reduced to 65 percent according to a new poll conducted by Odoxa and Dentsu Consulting for Le Figaro and broadcaster FranceInfo.” “At this rate (-16 points per year), the head of the White House will no longer be unpopular in France before the end of his term,” a pollster said. Meanwhile, Macron’s popularity hovers at around 21 percent, which the French might call pas très bien. Part of the issue — both in terms of Trump’s unpopularity falling and Macron’s rising — is that France is yet another country where there seems to be a sharp divide between populists and the establishment, especially when it comes to immigration. Trump seems to draw from the same base as Marine Le Pen, the former presidential candidate who’s called for reduced immigration and a French exit from the European Union.   Source article Here