‘Breathtaking speed’: Trump’s Paris trip marks return to world stage as leaders turn ‘the page’ on Biden

President-elect Trump is in Europe this weekend for his first trip abroad since his landslide victory in last month’s presidential election.

Trump will meet with Emmanuel Macron after the French president invited him to attend Saturday’s star-studded VIP event for the official reopening of the newly restored Notre Dame cathedral, five years after a devastating fire tore through the century-old landmark in Paris.

First lady Jill Biden will also attend the ceremonies, but it’s Trump who will hold court with world leaders.

The president-elect’s appearance will serve as Trump’s unofficial return to the global stage, and is another reminder that he is quickly becoming the center of the world’s attention.

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“This is certainly an important moment in French history and the fact that Macron wanted to share it with Trump speaks to the importance of what Trump is achieving even before he gets back into the Oval Office,” said Brett Bruen, a strategic and public affairs manager. communications veteran and former US diplomat who served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

“It is literally celebrated in Paris with all the glitz and glamour,” added Bruen, president of the Global Situation Room.

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And Bruen and other analysts credit Macron with inviting Trump to this weekend’s festivities.

“This is a very smart move by Macron to get things moving in the right direction when it comes to US-France relations under Trump,” he said. “But let’s also not forget the fact that Macron is very weak both in his own country and on the European continent … (Macron) may see Trump as an opportunity to restore his lost luster as a European leader who can engage more effectively with the new American president.”

Trump has received a flurry of calls in the weeks since the November election from international leaders congratulating him on his victory in the White House.

The trip to Paris comes a week later Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an unannounced stop at Mar-a-Lago for dinner with Trump after the president-elect threatened a trade war with Canada and Mexico.

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Trump argued that Canada had failed to prevent large amounts of drugs and undocumented people from crossing the northern border into the United States and also pointed to the massive US trade deficit with Canada.

As reported by Bret Baier of Fox News, Trump suggested to Trudeau that Canada could become the 51st state.

Trump has also recently weighed in on a number of international conflicts. In the volatile Middle East, the president-elect warned in a social media post this week that there would be “ALL HELL TO PAY” if Hamas does not release all hostages held in Gaza before being sworn in on January 20.

News of Trump’s invitation to Paris came earlier this week President Biden was on a historic trip to Angola as he became the first US president to visit the sub-Saharan African nation.

But Biden, likely on his last foreign trip before Trump takes over the White House next month, is already being eclipsed on the world stage by his predecessor and successor.

“While the president-elect (Trump) is still weeks away from taking the oath of office, the loyalties and attention of world leaders have shifted to the incoming president and from Washington to Mar-a-Lago with impressive speed Wayne Lesperance, a veteran political scientist and president of New England College, told Fox News.

Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former State Department diplomat during the first Trump administration, argued that “Biden has essentially been a lame duck” for months and that “world leaders have been shifting the gaze towards the next administration.

While members of the Biden White House would likely disagree with those sentiments, especially after the current administration played a major role in achieving the ceasefire that halted the fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah, it is undeniable that world leaders have already begun to do so. engage directly with the incoming president and administration.

While the focus traditionally shifts from the outgoing president to the new president, Mowers argued that “it’s more pronounced this time because the difference in Biden and Trump’s approach to foreign policy is very different.”

Mowers stressed that Trump already aims to “shape world events” by “being bold, not timid, in the statements he makes, and the world is already reacting to this kind of American strength.”

“World leaders who want to do something … must engage with Trump,” he added.

Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist who served at the State Department during Trump’s first term, told Fox News that “the world is calling for leadership” and that “the Oval Office has been replaced by Mar-a-Lago.” .

Lesperance, noting Biden’s swing through Africa, noted that the final weeks of lame-duck presidents “tend to be filled with moments of celebration and efforts to cement one’s legacy. Often, the focus is on its role on the world stage on behalf of America and its allies.

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However, he argued that “Biden’s pronouncements on Ukraine, Gaza and the importance of climate change are largely ignored by world leaders. Instead, the focus is on Trump’s picks for his foreign policy team and the pronouncements on changes in US foreign policy. It’s pretty clear that while Biden is attempting a victory tour, the world has turned the page.”