The French, who pioneered classical ballet, are familiar with the pas de deux, the intricate dance where two people circle and entwine each other center stage. This weekend it will be President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron lacing up their slippers, as the U.S. President returns to France for global celebrations marking the centenary of the end of the First World War.
For the French leader, the next few days offer an opportunity to reinvigorate a declining presidency. His popularity has plummeted in French opinion polls over the past few months, thanks in part to rising far-right nationalism across Europe, where fierce campaigning is underway for European Parliament elections next May.
So Macron has seized on the commemoration—in which 60 world leaders will attend three days of summitry, wreath-laying and speeches—as a moment to drum home his pivotal message: That globalism is the only safeguard for peace, while the nationalism espoused by Trump, and increasingly ..