Trump

President Macron fact checks Trump in real time - here's everything Trump got wrong

Trump and Macron clash over funding of Ukraine war effort
POOL

French president Emmanuel Macron met with US president Donald Trump at the White House on Monday (February 24) in what was nothing short of an awkward affair.

The face-to-face meeting between the two leaders included three tense "death grip" white-knuckled handshakes (one which reportedly lasted 12 seconds).

Talk then turned to Ukraine and Russia, on what was the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, where the pair discussed in the Oval Office how to end the war.

"We want peace swiftly but we don't want an agreement that is weak," Macron told Fox News, while Trump has made it clear he wants a deal done as soon as possible and also noted when an agreement is reached, he would visit President Vladimir Putin in Russia, the BBCreported.


There was another moment of contention when Trump claimed EU aid to Ukraine was a loan.

“This war cost all of us a lot of money,” said Macron. “And this is the responsibility of Russia because the aggressor is Russia.”

"Just so you understand, Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine. They’re getting their money back,” Trump replied.

But Macron was quick to debunk Trump's remark as placed his hand on Trump's wrist and responded: “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60 per cent of the total effort.”

The interaction quickly went viral on social media, particularly with a post on X from Brian Tyler Cohen who reposted the clip and wrote: "Macron just grabbed Trump's arm and fact-checked him to his face in real time.

"More of this please."

The post has over 6.6 million views, 185,000 likes and plenty of reactions from critics of Trump who enjoyed Macron putting him in his place.

One person wrote: "It's legit like and adult telling their kid off for lying."


"For me, the best bit is Macron interrupting and tapping Trump's arm... ....which is of course, the universal gesture for 'pipe down sugar tits," political commentator Marina Purkiss wrote.


A third person added: "You can tell Trump did NOT like that lol."

While a fourth person simply shared an image of a smiling Macron with the caption "Mood."


"And we'll soon be hearing about France being the 52nd state," an X user responded, referring to Trump's talk of Canada becoming a 51st state.


"I think the Europeans have realized Trump is a bad actor, so there’s no point mollifying him. I expect to see a lot more of this kind of pushback," someone else remarked.


"The way Macron puts his hand on him like he’s shushing some silly little toddler… it’s f***ing priceless."



Furthermore, another clip from the sit-down meeting has been making the rounds where President Macron was asked if he would support the US being compensated to which he agreed but that it should be Russia that compensates as they started the war.

"Trump's face when Macron says the US should be compensated by Russia, not Ukraine, because they started the war," one user posted.


Elsewhere, Kamala Harris's eerily accurate Trump prediction resurfaces, and Trump shows support for Germany's election winners and somehow manages to congratulate himself.

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