French President Emmanuel Macron denounced nationalism Sunday, appearing to take aim at President Trump without naming him.
Speaking in Paris at the 100-year anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I, Macron said, “Patriotism is the exact opposite of nationalism.”
In front of fellow world leaders, including including Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, he added, “Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism. By putting our own interests first, with no regard for others, we erase the very thing that a nation holds dearest, and the thing that keeps it alive: its moral values.”
“Old demons are rising again,” Macon said. “Let us vow once more as nations to ensure peace is the utmost priority, above all else, because we know what it cost.”
Macon stressed the importance of being a “generous nation” the “opposite of a selfish nation that only looks after its own interests.”
Trump has flirted with white nationalists and supremacists throughout his first two years in office. His refusal to denounce white nationalists, like those who rallied in Charlottesville, Va., a little more than a year ago, has emboldened supremacists throughout the country.
In recent months, Trump has adopted the loaded term “nationalist” as a rallying cry on the campaign trail. “I’m a nationalist. OK? I’m a nationalist,” Trump said in October.
Macron later tweeted a cordial response to Trump, thanking him for joining in the centennial of Armistice Day. “When brave American soldiers came to France one hundred years ago, they fought and shed their blood in a place they sometimes didn’t know,” Macron said. “That reinforced even more the special bond between our two Nations.”
[Opinion: Trump’s nationalism is undoing decades of GOP failure]
