Let me tell you about a president, and you guess who he is.
- He’s a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
- He’s trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
- He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
- He’s going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
- He’s slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition–especially from China
- He’s vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
- He is curtailing press ‘privileges’ and closing the press room near his office
- His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
- He’s shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
- He’s really into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
- He’s even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
- And amid all this, his approval ratings are startlingly worryingly underwater
This president is–I’m sure you already know–Emmanuel Macron of France!
ReConsidering Stereotypes
Of course, Macron and Trump have a lot of differences.
But this is an exercise: how would you feel reading each of these, individually, perhaps believing they were about Trump? And how about Macron?
As we’ve mentioned a few times before, everything is sensationalized when Trump is involved. When Macron does something, it’s a president doing something. When Trump does something, it’s TRUMP doing SOMETHING, love it or hate it. Trump encourages this; so does our traditional and social media.
Just remember: not everything Trump does is revolutionary, outrageous, or even novel.
By the way, here are all of the sources for the bullets about Macron at the beginning of the article:
- He’s a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
- He’s trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
- He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
- He’s going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
- He’s slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition–especially from China
- He’s vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
- He is curtailing press ‘privileges’ and closing the press room near his office
- His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
- He’s shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
- He’s into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
- He’s even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
- And amid all this, his approval ratings are worryingly underwater (along with some peers)
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