November 11, 2018

French President Rebukes Trump’s “America First” Mantra

“Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” he said as Trump looked on uncomfortably.

President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.Francois Mori/AP Photo

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President Donald Trump’s troubled trip to France took a turn for the worse on Sunday. After Trump faced international criticism Saturday for skipping a planned visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to honor soldiers killed in World War I, he received a new rebuke from French President Emmanuel Macron, who took a barely veiled swipe at Trump’s foreign policy during a ceremony Sunday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of the war.

“Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” Macron said at the Armistice Day event, speaking in French. “By saying, ‘Our interests first, who cares about the others,’ we erase what a nation holds dearest, what gives it life, what gives it grace, and what is essential: its moral values.”

Macron’s words might normally be unremarkable. Nationalism, often defined as excessive devotion to a nation state, has long been faulted as a cause of wars, particularly the First World War. But Trump has described himself as a nationalist and touted an “America First” approach while questioning the country’s longstanding alliance with Western European states.

“I’m a nationalist,” Trump said during a political rally in Houston last month. “OK? I’m a nationalist. Nationalist. Use that word.”

After Macron’s remarks Sunday, Trump “appeared to grimace while offering muted and delayed applause,” NBC News reported.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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