It was in the nave of Notre-Dame that Donald J. Trump made his first meaningful appearance on the European stage following his re-election. The occasion was the solemn reopening of the cathedral, five years after the devastating fire. French President Emmanuel Macron, the host and orchestrator of the ceremony, stood at the altar not merely as head of state but as would-be architect of a new transatlantic axis. Alongside him: Italys Giorgia Meloni, Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Notably absent: Ursula von der Leyen.
The exclusion of the European Commission President was no oversight. Macron’s office had grown wary of von der Leyen's insistence on reviving the Mercosur deal, which Paris—guarding its agricultural interests—considers toxic. The signal was unmissable: in France’s vision of diplomacy, the nation-state still reigns supreme. As Macron assumed the mantle of Europe’s de facto representative, Meloni, despite her symbolic presence at Trump’s inauguration, was relegated to the second row.
Friends Among Unequals
The contrast could not have been sharper with Washington's inaugural celebrations. In January, At Trump’s inauguration, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei were prominently featured, underscoring their close alignment with the US administration. Additionally, several European right-wing leaders attended the ceremony, including Tino Chrupalla of Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), Santiago Abascal of Spain's Vox party, Eric Zemmour of France's Reconquête, and Nigel Farage of the UK’s Reform UK party. This ecosystem of selective esteem, America had made it plain: some friends are more equal than others.
J.D. Vance, newly appointed Secretary of State, formalised this worldview weeks later in a controversial speech at the Munich Security Conference. “What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental valuesn,“ he declared. The timing was sensitive. In Germany, debate had recently emerged over the so-called Schwachkopf affair, in which police searched the home of a satirical artist who had posted a meme labelling Economy Minister Robert Habeck a “Schwachkopf” (a German insult roughly translating to “dimwit”). A 60 Minutes exposé appeared soon after, implicating Lower Saxony's prosecutors in monitoring social media satire.
