The French Army Just Mocked Trump's Paralysing Fear Of Rain. Here Are 5 More Times He's Been Expertly Trolled
You'll recall that Trump ducked out of an Armistice commemoration service at the Aisne-Marne cemetery outside Paris at the weekend because it was raining. The presidential helicopter couldn't fly, you see, and the White House pointed out that driving the 50 miles there would play havoc avec le school-run. What's a president to do? Mark the centenary of a horrific conflict's resolution by catching a chest infection? Non, merci.
The French Army appears to be playfully amused by the whole thing, though, tweeting a picture of one of its soldiers managing - somehow - to do things in the rain.
#MondayMotivation Il y a de la pluie, mais c'est pas grave 😅 On reste motivé 👊 pic.twitter.com/29hOJ9ITF0
- Armée de Terre (@armeedeterre) November 12, 2018
That means: "It's raining, but it's not serious". You wouldn't follow the the French Army in the hope of future warfare-adjacent chortles, but it's a solid little gag. They're not the first officials and states to wind Trump up though.
Chuck Schumer
One of the many shames about how mad the last two years of American politics have been is the fact that the utterly bizarre first meeting of Trump's Cabinet which featured some truly astounding grovelling, with each Cabinet member in turn introducing themselves and just how grateful - oh gosh, how ruddy, bloody grateful - they were to orbit Trump's magnificence. It hit a crescendo with Reince Priebus: "We thank you for the opportunity and the blessing that you’ve given us to serve your agenda." Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senator for New York, got his staff to reenact this circle of self-love.
GREAT meeting today with the best staff in the history of the world!!! pic.twitter.com/ocE1xhEAac
- Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 12, 2017
Arnold Schwarzennegger and Emmanuel Macron
When the former Republican governor of California and the French President had a catch-up about how best to not ruin the planet following Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, they obviously couldn't resist co-opting Trump's #MAGA slogan.
I was truly honored to meet with President @EmmanuelMacron about how we can work together for a clean energy future. He's a great leader. pic.twitter.com/MSoxjIruup
- Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) June 23, 2017
The palpable awkwardness of that uncertain little pause before Macron's "...thank you" at the end is beautiful.
The Russian military
Remember the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, also known as the Mother Of All Bombs? The nine-metre, 10,000kg, 18 kiloton explosive was dropped in action for the first time during Trump's presidency, in Nangarhar, Afghanistan. It was all part of Trump's stated mission of getting rid of Isis, and the administration was very pleased with showing off its tumescent weapon. Very shortly afterwards, though, Russia released purported footage of its own ludicrously huge bomb - apparently four times bigger than the MOAB, and very pointedly named 'the Father Of All Bombs'.
Swedish deputy prime minister Isabella Lövin
When Trump began his presidency with a flurry of executive orders in February 2017, the sight of him proudly and solemnly displaying proposed measures to restrict American aid to NGOs which help women access abortion services, surrounded by other white blokes, did not sit well.
“We’ve got your best interests at heart, ladies. Believe me.” pic.twitter.com/2ZY4Sc6sKh
- Greg Greene (@ggreeneva) January 23, 2017
A week later, Lövin, who's also the spokesperson for the Swedish Green Party, seemed to nod at the composition of the picture as she signed into law a pledge to get Swedish net emissions to zero by 2045, surrounded by other women.
Just signed referral of Swedish #climate law, binding all future governments to net zero emissions by 2045. For a safer and better future. pic.twitter.com/OqOO2y8BU6
- Isabella Lövin (@IsabellaLovin) February 3, 2017
The International Space Station
I took the #ParisAgreement to the ISS: from space, climate change is very real. Some could probably use the view #MakeOurPlanetGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/0AuMTr9J39
- Thomas Pesquet (@Thom_astro) June 6, 2017
Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut on the ISS, brought a signed copy of the Paris climate agreement with him on a trip heavenward. Somebody should've told him Trump doesn't live in space before he embarrassed himself like that. "We will succeed because we are fully committed," Pesquet later explained on YouTube. "Because wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility, make our planet great again." Has France only got one gag-writer these days?
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