Let me tell you about a president, and you guess who he is.

• He’s a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
• He’s trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
• He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
• He’s going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
• He’s slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition–especially from China
• He’s vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
• He is curtailing press ‘privileges’ and closing the press room near his office
• His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
• He’s shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
• He’s really into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
• He’s even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
• And amid all this, his approval ratings are startlingly worryingly underwater

This president is–I’m sure you already know–Emmanuel Macron of France!

ReConsidering Stereotypes

Of course, Macron and Trump have a lot of differences.

But this is an exercise: how would you feel reading each of these, individually, perhaps believing they were about Trump? And how about Macron?

As we’ve mentioned a few times before, everything is sensationalized when Trump is involved. When Macron does something, it’s a president doing something. When Trump does something, it’s TRUMP doing SOMETHING, love it or hate it. Trump encourages this; so does our traditional and social media.

Just remember: not everything Trump does is revolutionary, outrageous, or even novel.

By the way, here are all of the sources for the bullets about Macron at the beginning of the article:

• He’s a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
• He’s trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
• He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
• He’s going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
• He’s slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition–especially from China
• He’s vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
• He is curtailing press ‘privileges’ and closing the press room near his office
• His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
• He’s shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
• He’s into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
• He’s even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
• And amid all this, his approval ratings are worryingly underwater (along with some peers)