European leaders see Democratic House gains as a blow to Trump's "rudeness" and "racism"
European leaders see Democratic House gains as a blow to Trumps "rudeness" and "racism"
WorldViews
European leaders see Democratic House gains as a blow to Trumps rudeness and racism
By James McAuley
Foreign correspondent focusing on French and European politics and culture
November 7 at 7:34 AM
PARIS European officials wasted no time in casting the results of the U.S.
midterm elections as a rebuttal to the rudeness and racism of President Trump.
Frans Timmermans, the European Commissions first vice president, declared that the gains Democrats made in the House of Representatives were a clear sign of a growing rift between Trump and the American people. ... Inspired by voters in the U.S. who chose hope over fear, civility over rudeness, inclusion over racism, equality over discrimination, Timmermans wrote in a Twitter post. They stood up for their values. And so will we.
In France, government officials were mostly silent, in advance of Trumps visit to Paris for the 100th anniversary later this week of the 1918 armistice that ended World War I. But Pierre Moscovici, a former French finance minister and now the European Unions commissioner for economic and financial affairs, took his own swipe at Trump, playing on the presidents self-congratulation.
The Democrats win the House of Representatives for the first time in eight years despite powerful Republican gerrymandering, he wrote in a Twitter post. Donald Trump is right: Tremendous success tonight.
....
Anton Troianovski in Moscow contributed to this report.
James McAuley is Paris correspondent for The Washington Post. He holds a PhD in French history from the University of Oxford, where he was a Marshall Scholar. Follow
https://twitter.com/jameskmcauley