Trump publishes a text message from France’s Macron in Greenland – National
While Europe is publicly pushing back against US President Donald Trump over Greenland, the language seems softer behind the scenes.
Trump published a text message he received on Tuesday from French President Emmanuel Macron, which Macron’s office confirmed as authentic.
Beginning with “My friend,” Macron’s tone was more defiant than the criticism of France and other European allies who have spoken out against Trump’s push to annex Greenland and NATO ally Denmark.
Before talking about the Greenland conflict, Macron chose in his message to first talk about other issues where he and Trump seem to be almost on the same page.
“We are fully in line with Syria. We can do good things in Iran,” the French leader wrote in English.
Then, he added: “I don’t understand what you are doing in Greenland,” quickly followed by: “Let’s try to build big things.”
That’s all Macron said about the self-governing Denmark Trump wants in two parts of the message Trump published. It was not immediately clear from Trump’s post when he received the message.
Trump is breaking tradition
World leaders’ private messages to each other rarely make it into the public domain – allowing them to show one face in public and one to each other.
But Trump — as is his wont in so many domains — is throwing the culture and beauty of social media into the air and, in the process, pulling back the curtain on what is often invisible.
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Trump also published a flattering message from Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, which the alliance also confirmed to be true.
“I am committed to finding a way to Greenland,” Rutte wrote. “I can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
Rutte has refused to speak publicly about Greenland despite growing concerns about Trump’s threats to “acquire” the island and what that would mean for the territorial integrity of NATO ally Denmark. Pressed last week about Trump’s plans in Greenland and warnings from Denmark that any US military action could mean the end of NATO, Rutte said: “I can’t comment on that. That’s not possible for the public.”
Macron’s relationship with Trump
Macron likes to say he can get Trump on the phone whenever he wants. He proved it last September by making a show of calling the president on the streets of New York, to tell Trump that the police had prevented him from letting the VIP motorcade go.
I’m waiting on the street because everything is frozen because of you! Macron said when the cameras captured the incident.
It is a safe bet that Macron must know now – a year into Trump’s second term in office – that there is always a risk that a secret message to Trump will be made public.
Still, the contrast between Macron’s public and private personas in the message Trump published was striking.
Hosting Russia and Ukraine together
Most notably, the French leader told Trump in his message that he would be willing to invite representatives from Ukraine and Russia to a meeting later this week in Paris – an opinion Macron has not expressed publicly.
The Russians could be dealt with “on the edge,” Macron suggested, citing the potential difficulty of inviting representatives from Moscow while France is also supporting Ukraine with military and other support against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression.
Macron wrote that the meeting could include “the Danes, the Syrians” and the nations of the G7 – including the United States.
The French president added: “Let’s have dinner together in Paris on Thursday before you come back to us.”
Then he simply signed “Emmanuel.”
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