CNN
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The Notre Dame Cathedral will provide a lofty backdrop for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the geopolitical stage on Saturday, when French officials put an ornate line under the five-year project to restore the soaring landmark with a reopening ceremony featuring dozens of world leaders.
Set to return to the White House in a little more than six weeks, Trump’s arrival in Paris comes at a decisive moment for governments in Western Europe, which – like France itself – is currently caught in a push-and-pull between a wavering liberal democratic order and the rising right-wing movements determined to upend it.
French President Emmanuel Macron, now in his second five-year term, invited Trump to attend as he strives to stabilize a collapsing government at home while retaining his influence abroad – most persistently when it comes to the future of Western support for Ukraine against Russia.
Trump has insisted he has a plan to bring an immediate peace to the region, though allies of Ukraine are concerned the president-elect might push for a ceasefire or peace deal viewed as more favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has signaled little interest in abandoning his war of conquest.
Macron’s success in bringing Trump to Paris – where he and other pro-Ukrainian leaders can make their case in such a luminous setting – has earned him some increasingly rare acclaim from the French press, which has described it as a “diplomatic coup.” (The French president had also been the first foreign leader to publicly congratulate Trump for winning a second term last month.) The French embassy announced on Friday that Macron will hold successive meetings with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the ceremonies, though it remains unclear whether Trump and Zelensky will have any direct conversations.
The particulars of Trump’s visit were hashed out over several days, but the president-elect told his team he was keen to attend. He has a long-held fascination with the cathedral and even tweeted out in distress more than five years ago as a fire ravaged its Gothic edifice, which sits on the Île de la Cité, an island within Paris’ Seine River. Its iconic spire and roof were destroyed as television audiences around the globe watched in horror.
Investigators believe the blaze was an accident but have not yet identified the direct cause.
“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” Trump posted on April 15, 2019, during his first term in the Oval Office. “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
His suggestion was ignored by firefighters and the French civil security agency, Sécurité Civile, responded on social media less than two hours later, warning – in English – that “water-bombing aircrafts … could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”
Trump has long sought the kind of high society recognition now on offer from Macron and other European leaders anxious over the direction of the incoming administration, but some of his critics – led by late night comedians – back in the US were quick to mock the showy visit.
“If all goes according to plan, he would like to buy it and turn it into a casino,” Jimmy Kimmel joked earlier this week. Jimmy Fallon quipped that the cathedral is “going to burst right back into flames” when Trump steps inside.
For Macron, the occasion is no laughing matter.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, he pledged to rebuild and reopen the gutted cathedral in five years – a deadline he just about made. There is less room for error, and much more at stake, in his ongoing efforts to sustain the fragile coalition backing Ukraine.
His congratulations to the president-elect last month – going out before most US media agencies had even called the race – alluded to his relationship with Trump the first time he was in the White House, once described as a bromance, although it didn’t last.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years,” Macron wrote on X last month. “With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Later that evening, he and Trump spoke by phone, Macron’s office said.
The French president has made a fresh push to curry favor with the returning president and his allies. CNN has reported that Macron plans to invite Trump and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, whom the president-elect has tapped for a role in his administration, to Paris for a summit on artificial intelligence in early February.
Trump will not be the only American emissary in Paris on Saturday. First lady Jill Biden is also scheduled to attend the ceremony, as she wraps up her last official state trip abroad. She is not, however, slated to visit the Élysée palace or attend any high-profile meetings.
Saturday’s trip will take place a week after Trump announced his selection of son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, real estate developer Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France. Charles Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020 after pleading guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, one count of retaliating against a federal witness and another count of lying to the Federal Election Commission.
Macron will not be the first G7 leader to huddle with Trump in-person since the election. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida and dined with him at Mar-a-Lago on November 29.
Over dinner, Trump – during a discussion on his proposed tariffs – joked that Canada avoid any pain by becoming the 51st US state, two sources briefed on the conversation told CNN.
“The president was teasing us,” Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was seated at the same table, told reporters in Ottawa. “It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment.”
