President-elect Donald Trump held court in France on Saturday, receiving greetings from world leaders as he attended the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
A video was circulated of the former and future president on his way to his seat, and he stopped to shake hands with heads of state. President Biden did not take the trip, while Trump sat next to first lady Jill Biden and their daughter, Ashley, who also greeted the incoming president warmly.
Social media users were quick to point out the pomp and circumstance — including the red carpet — afforded Trump in a manner typically reserved for a sitting president.
“If this whole thing was written as a movie plot, Hollywood would have succeeded because it would seem so far-fetched,” wrote another commenter on X.
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“President Trump is greeted by Prince William, world leaders and heads of state from around the world at the official reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. It’s safe to say the US is well and truly back and respected around the world,” another person. you made a comment.
“It’s hard to say whether this was the reopening of Notre Dame or the reopening of Trump as a world leader,” Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo told X.
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President-elect Donald Trump talks with Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, at Notre Dame Cathedral before the French cathedral reopens its doors for the first time since a devastating fire nearly destroyed the 861-year-old cathedral in 2019, Saturday Dec. .7, 2024 in Paris. (Ludovic Marin, Poole via AP)
“So it looks like Trump is already in office. No need for a coronation. The world has been waiting for the US to finally have leadership, and he just walked in the door at Notre Dame,” wrote the parody account Not the Bee.
“One by one, world leaders are standing up to salute President Trump. This is what respect for our President and country looks like,” Former Assistant Treasury Secretary Monica Crowley wrote in X.
While inside the cathedral, Trump was also greeted President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Britain’s Prince William, the president-elect met later at the residence of the British ambassador in Paris.
“He’s a good man, this one. He’s doing a great job,” Trump told reporters as he shook Prince William’s hand.
Before the event, Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron, and the two shook hands in a gesture that quickly went viral on the Internet.
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French President Emmanuel Macron meets with President-elect Donald Trump at the Elysee Palace on December 7, 2024 in Paris, France. (Oleg Nikishin)
“President Trump is back to managing world leaders with his handshake,” another user, George, wrote on the X site. “Macron will need a hand massage after all that twisting and pulling of Trump.”
“President Trump shakes French President Emmanuel Macron with the strongest handshake I’ve ever seen,” said analyst Drew Hernandez. “We’re back a lot.”
Trump’s handshakes with world leaders have spanned many years, including when he shook hands with Russian President Putin at the G-20 Summit in 2019.
Absent from the festivities was President Biden, who declined an invitation to attend the Notre Dame ceremony, five years after the devastating fire that destroyed Paris’ centuries-old history, the White House cited a “scheduling conflict.”
Trump’s appearance marked his unofficial return to the world stage and a reminder that he is becoming the center of global attention.
“There is no doubt that this is a great moment in the history of France and the fact that Macron wanted to share it with Trump speaks to the importance of what Trump is achieving even before he returns to the Oval Office,” said Brett Bruen, of public affairs and strategy. a veteran diplomat, and former US ambassador who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.
“You are literally revered in Paris for all its glitz and glamor,” added Bruen, president of the Global Situation Room.
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The trip to Paris comes a week later Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau he made a quick stop at Mar-a-Lago to dine with Trump after the president-elect threatened a trade war with Canada and Mexico.
Fox News Digital’s Aubrie Spady and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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