FRANCE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Emmanuel Macron was put on the spot this year in front of a room full of journalists when one asked, provocatively: Which man is more dangerous, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un; or Donald J. Trump?…With that careful answer, the leader of France sought to reassure a French public hostile to the American president that pure pragmatism governed his relations, while hinting that by giving Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt, he could get something in return…Mr. Macron has made a gamble, given Mr. Trump’s unpopularity, that he can court him but not be tarnished by him — or even that he can burnish his own reputation as a leader who is so psychologically astute that he can gain the ear of an American president who is in many respects his polar opposite. A year into a sustained charm offensive, Mr. Macron has won a trip to Washington, occasioned by an invitation from Mr. Trump for a formal state visit, the first the American leader has extended during his presidency. But other than that, he has little to show for his courtship of Mr. Trump.”
-Alissa J. Rubin and Adam Nossiter, “Macron Takes a Risk in Courting Trump, but Has Little to Show for It,” The New York Times online, April 22, 2018