Emmanuel Macron Just Confronted Trump with a Powerful Speech Before Congress

Democrats in the chamber warmly welcomed the French president’s remarks.

Speaking before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron delivered an impassioned, wide-ranging speech rebuking some of President Donald Trump’s signature policies while urging the United States not to close its doors to the international community.

The remarks, which prompted standing ovations from Democrats in the chamber, were seen as a veiled but sharp denunciation of his American counterpart’s doctrine. He urged the US to rejoin the Paris climate agreement—”There is no Planet B,” Macron said, sparking loud applause—and condemned the rise of nationalism throughout the world.

“We can choose isolationism, withdrawal, and nationalism—this is an option,” Macron said. “It can be tempting to us as a temporary redemptive to our fears. But closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world. It will not douse, but inflame, the fears of our citizens.”

Macron’s speech comes at the end of a three-day state visit to Washington where the two world leaders appeared to go out of their ways to demonstrate a strong bond, repeatedly shaking hands and patting each other’s backs. “We do have a very special relationship,” Trump said Tuesday, before brushing off what he said was a piece of dandruff from Macron’s shoulder on live television.

Trump was not in the room for Macron’s speech to Congress.

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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.

Wow.

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.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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