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Just Saying
Opinion
Yonden Lhatoo
Yonden Lhatoo

Just Saying | After Emmanuel Macron, why not a Donald Trump-Kim Jong-un bromance for world peace?

Yonden Lhatoo brushes cynicism aside to welcome US President Donald Trump’s public display of affection with his French counterpart and hopes he will extend it to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un when they meet next

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US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House in Washington. Photo: AP
Yonden Lhatoo

What an extraordinary week it’s been for global diplomacy, even if substance may have been sidelined by spectacle.

First there was “Le Bromance” between US President Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron – fresh from jointly bombing Syria – with their astonishing public displays of affection in front of the world’s media.

If you haven’t seen the video clips already, they’re mandatory viewing, because words are not enough to convey the sheer touchy-feeliness of all that handshaking, hand-holding, hugging and faux cheek-kissing at the White House.

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The two leaders engaged in astonishing public displays of affection. Photo: AP
The two leaders engaged in astonishing public displays of affection. Photo: AP
The two of them – especially Trump – seemed unable to stop touching each other, and there were some truly cringeworthy moments, such as when the US president affectionately flicked what he identified as “dandruff” off Macron’s shoulder, telling everyone: “We have to make him perfect.”
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It was a far cry from last year’s rutting ritual in Paris, when Macron seemed determined to beat a visiting Trump at his own game of “grab-and-yank-his-hand” one-upmanship. “You have to show you won’t make small concessions – not even symbolic ones,” the French leader explained back then.

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