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The NBA on Wednesday announced its regular-season European schedule for the 2025-26 season and unveiled plans to play regular-season season games in Paris, Berlin and Manchester in 2027 and 2028.

The Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic will play two games in Europe this season – in Berlin on Jan. 15, and in London on Jan. 18.

‘Announcing the next three season’s regular-season games in Europe reflects the incredible momentum and appetite for NBA basketball in France, Germany, the UK and across the region,’ NBA managing director of Europe and Middle East George Aivazoglou said in a news release. ‘We look forward to welcoming the Grizzlies and the Magic to Berlin and London and to engaging fans, players and the local communities through the games and the surrounding events.’

The Magic’s Franz and Mo Wagner are from Germany, and the Berlin game will the NBA’s first regular-season game in the country.

‘To have the Orlando Magic and the NBA play a regular-season game in our hometown of Berlin means everything to us,’ the Wagner brothers said in a joint statement. ‘Growing up here, we dreamed of moments like this. It’s a huge honor to represent Berlin and Germany and show how much the city and country love basketball. We hope we can inspire kids the way we were inspired watching games from afar.’

The NBA’s push into the European market has been steady and unsurprising. As the league considers expansion of its North American-based league, it is also exploring the creation a new league based in Europe – with the idea of adding already existing franchises and creating franchises in underserved markets.

‘Just as the same as in American cities, we think there’s an opportunity to serve fans in Europe,’ NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at the NBA Finals. ‘No knock on European basketball, because most of those international MVPs I just talked about are coming from Europe. There’s really high-level basketball being played there. But we think there is an opportunity to better serve fans there. I view that as a form of expansion as well, and that’s something we’re also thinking hard about.’

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As Dominguez made that long walk in the Camden Yards catacombs earlier, the Orioles dealing him for a decently regarded Class AA pitching prospect, the usual doubts entered his mind.

How many guys did he know in that Blue Jays clubhouse? How will they utilize the set-up reliever with the 98 mph fastball and a splitter that’s made him dominant this season?

Hours later, though, that stroll through the hall was far more pleasant.

Dominguez already had his first scoreless inning as a Blue Jay under his belt — and his two young sons, Saimon and Sander, sprinted toward him and leaped into his arms.

Yep, getting traded but not having to pack your bags has its fringe benefits.

Dominguez endured one of the longest and strangest days a ballplayer can have, but when it comes to the trading deadline, there are far worse fates than leaping four spots in the standings and sleeping in your own bed the night you’re dealt.

Hey, he can worry about apartments in Toronto another day. For now, he has one more night to sleep in his bed, one game left in this Blue Jays-Orioles four-game set — the latter two coming as Toronto’s badly needed and much-coveted set-up man.

“It’s been kind of crazy,” says Dominguez after pitching a scoreless seventh inning in his Toronto debut, a 3-2 loss to his old Baltimore teammates. “I wake up today and come to play for the Orioles and after the first game, I’m sitting there and hanging out with the guys and they call me and tell me, ‘Hey, we got you traded. Go to the next dugout.’

“But I am happy for the opportunity to be here. And I’m so happy because the Orioles gave me the opportunity. So grateful to the Orioles — they gave me the opportunity to get to do what I love to do.”

It was a quick turnaround and a long, hot strange day for all involved.

The clubs played a day-night doubleheader that offered little relief from the elements — game time temperatures, 97 and 93 degrees — nor from the unyielding fact both clubs were going to be significant players in big deals before the July 31 trade deadline.

And in exactly one hour, the clubs managed to swap Dominguez for Class AA right-hander Juaron Watts-Brown, Blue Jays manager John Schneider learning from GM Ross Atkins that he’d have a new reliever about 90 minutes before first pitch of the second game.

The flip side: The Blue Jays designated right-hander Chad Green for assignment, his three years as a Blue Jay ending with a one-inning, four-run outing in the opener that left him with a 5.56 ERA.

But the Blue Jays are leading the American League East by four games over the New York Yankees. And purely in next-man-up mode.

“That’s a crazy day for him. That’s a whirlwind day,” Schneider said of Dominguez, who struck out 54 batters in 41 2/3 innings this season for Baltimore. “He probably got in a little more than an hour before the game. He said ‘hi’ real quick. And he was ready to go.

“First domino fell. Had to have a tough conversation with Chad Green. He’s the definition of a professional. He’s tight with a lot of guys in the clubhouse. On the flip side, everyone understands the business part of the game.”

While it’s not hard to sell a veteran clubhouse on upgrades at the deadline, Schneider nonetheless made sure to touch base with many of them, with Green, 34, moving on.

“It’s just an awkward situation between two games of a doubleheader, right? You want to make sure it lands well with the room,” says Schneider. “We pride ourselves on having a tight-knit group. You want to make sure the temperature in the room was in the right spot, and it was.

“They all get it. and Chad was about as professional as you could be in that conversation.”

And Dominguez hardly had time to drop his bags and move his personal coffee roaster from one clubhouse to another before he was in the ballgame.

But not without a little hazing.

With the visitor’s bullpen at Camden Yards perched just above the home ‘pen, Dominguez had to jog by his old relief pals to get to his new perch. And Andrew Kittredge did not let him slip by unnoticed.

“He was yelling at me a little bit — ‘What are you doing? Where are you going?’” Dominguez said of Kittredge. “It made me laugh but made me sad at the same time, too, because you have relationships with the people you’re around and they’re really good people and I wish them the best.”

That ribbing aside, Dominguez grazed Dylan Carlson with a pitch but then picked him off of second, completing a scoreless inning that included a strikeout of Colton Cowser.

Later, he expressed the disappointment felt by numerous Orioles about their collective failings this season. Their 50-58 record — even after three wins over the 63-46 Blue Jays — stamped all their tickets out of town.

At least Dominguez will get a moment to rest, to collect both his thoughts and his belongings, a strange upside to a most unusual day.

“I knew I was probably going to be traded. I don’t know where,” he says. “But I just try to come to the park and do my best to help the Orioles win.

“Now, I’m going to do the same with the Blue Jays.”

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Juan Soto left the New York Mets’ 7-1 loss against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night at Petco Park after fouling a ball off his left foot.

Soto was removed from the game with what the Mets described as a foot contusion. It happened during the fourth inning in Soto’s second at-bat of the game while batting against Padres starting pitcher Ryan Bergert. Soto finished the at-bat, grounding out to Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth.

Soto was then pulled from the game. Jeff McNeil moved from center to right field, while Tyrone Taylor entered the game to take McNeil’s vacated spot in center.

Juan Soto stats

In his first season with the Mets after signing a 15-year, $765 million contract with the team, Soto is hitting .248 with 25 home runs and 62 runs batted in.

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Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on the FBI to conduct a counterintelligence threat assessment on the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday that the FBI assessment should accomplish three things: determine if foreign intelligence agencies could gain access to the information ‘the president does not want to release in the Epstein files, through methods that include cyber intrusion;’ identify any vulnerabilities that could be exploited by foreign intelligence agencies with access to non-public information in the Epstein files, ‘including being able to gain leverage over Donald Trump, his family, or other senior government officials;’ and result in the FBI publicly showing that the bureau is ‘developing mitigation strategies to counter these threats and safeguard our national security.’ 

At his weekly Democratic leadership press conference afterward, Schumer condemned what he categorized as the Epstein ‘cover-up,’ further taking aim at President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

‘Trump promised he’d release the Epstein files while he was on the campaign trail, yet he has yet to do it,’ Schumer told reporters. ‘Speaker Johnson quite literally preferred to shut down Congress, sending everyone home on an Epstein recess to avoid the topic. Americans are right to be angry over the lack of transparency, but there are also some very real questions about risks to national security.’

‘Given Trump’s total about-face on releasing files and given what we know from the FBI whistleblowers, it’s natural to ask, what happens if our adversaries use cyberattacks and other means to access files and materials into Epstein that are damaging or worse for President Trump and or those around him?’ Schumer continued. ‘What happens if the Epstein files end up in the hands of Russia or North Korea, or Chinese governments? Unless the Epstein files are fully released to the public, could our adversaries use that, Epstein, to use that information to blackmail someone like the president? 

Last Thursday, Schumer noted, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services were among several government agencies hacked as part of a breach to Microsoft SharePoint system. 

‘This was confirmed that it was Chinese actors. So we don’t need this happening again,’ Schumer said. ‘We have to ensure that it can’t happen. National security is not and should never be a partisan issue. We need to do everything we can to make sure we protecting the U.S. and American families. This report is vital in doing that. Beyond that, there is one more thing Donald Trump could do to quell people’s anger, confusion, frustration, and/or deep fears. That is, release the files.’ 

Last week, Johnson ended the House legislative session a day early, averting a potential vote on a resolution by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., that would have compelled the Justice Department and the FBI to release the Epstein files. Johnson asserted on Sunday that House Republicans supported ‘maximum disclosure’ but argued that the resolution was ‘reckless’ and poorly drafted, arguing that it ignored federal rules protecting grand jury materials and ‘would require the DOJ and FBI to release information that they know is false, that is based on lies and rumors and was not even credible enough to be entered into the court proceedings.’ 

Johnson said he supported the Trump administration’s stance that ‘all credible evidence and information’ be released, but emphasized the need for safeguards to protect victims’ identities.

During a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland on Monday, Trump was asked why he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club in West Palm Beach, Florida, years ago. 

‘That’s such old history. Very easy to explain, but I don’t want to waste your time by explaining it. But for years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk because he did something that was inappropriate,’ Trump told reporters. ‘He hired help, and I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He stole people that worked for me. I said, ‘Don’t ever do that again.’ He did it again, and I threw him out of the place, persona non grata. I threw him out and that was it.’ 

Trump said he turned down an invitation to Epstein’s notorious island in the Caribbean and claimed former President Bill Clinton and former Harvard University President Larry Summers had gone. 

‘I never went to the island and Bill Clinton went there, supposedly 28 times. I never went to the island, but Larry Summers, I hear, went there. He was the head of Harvard and many other people that are very big people. Nobody ever talks about them,’ Trump said. ‘I never had the privilege of going to his island. And I did turn it down. But a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island. In one of my very good moments, I turned it down.’ 

Fox News’ Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

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Longtime Democratic operative Steve Ricchetti is appearing before House investigators on Wednesday, the seventh former White House aide to be summoned for Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer’s probe.

Ricchetti most recently served as counselor to President Joe Biden during the vast majority of the Biden White House’s four-year term.

He’s now expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee staff for a closed-door transcribed interview that could last several hours.

Comer, R-Ky., is investigating whether Biden’s top White House aides concealed signs of mental decline in the president, and if that meant executive actions were signed via autopen without his knowledge.

Ricchetti first began working for Biden in 2012, when he was appointed as counselor to the vice president during the Obama administration. He was soon promoted to Biden’s chief of staff in late 2013.

Ricchetti, who made a living as both a lobbyist and a Democratic insider, chaired Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign as well.

The committee’s interest in him, however, lies in his alleged key role in managing the White House while aides reportedly worked to obscure signs of the president’s mental decline.

‘As Counselor to former President Biden, you served as one of his closest advisors. According to a report, you were part of a group of insiders who implemented a strategy to minimize ‘the president’s age-related struggles,’’ Comer wrote to Ricchetti in June, referencing a Wall Street Journal report.

‘The scope and details of that strategy cannot go without investigation. If White House staff carried out a strategy lasting months or even years to hide the chief executive’s condition—or to perform his duties—Congress may need to consider a legislative response.’

Axios reporter Alex Thompson, who co-wrote ‘Original Sin’ with CNN host Jake Tapper about Biden’s cognitive decline and his aides’ alleged attempts to cover it up, told PBS program Washington Week earlier this year that Ricchetti was part of a small group of insiders that some dubbed Biden’s ‘Politburo.’

He also played a key role in Biden’s legislative agenda, most notably as one of the Democratic negotiators working with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to avoid a full-blown fiscal crisis over the U.S. national debt in early 2023.

It comes after another close former aide, former White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain, appeared before investigators for his own transcribed interview last week.

Like Klain, Ricchetti is appearing on voluntary terms—the fourth former Biden aide to do so.

Three of the previous six Biden administration officials who appeared before the House Oversight Committee did so under subpoena. Former White House physician Kevin O’Connor, as well as former advisers Annie Tomasini and Anthony Bernal, all pleaded the Fifth Amendment during their compulsory sit-downs.

But the three voluntary transcribed interviews that have occurred so far have lasted more than five hours, as staff for both Democrats and Republicans take turns in rounds of questioning.

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President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he may skip the G20 summit in South Africa in November over the nation’s ‘very bad policies,’ and instead send someone else to represent the United States.

Trump made the remarks aboard Air Force One in response to a reporter’s question as he returned from a trip to Scotland, where the president achieved a massive trade deal with the European Union.

‘I think maybe I’ll send somebody else because I’ve had a lot of problems with South Africa,’ Trump said. ‘They have some very bad policies.’

‘Very, very bad policies, like policies where people are being killed,’ Trump added.

In May, Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House with news clippings and a video allegedly showing grave treatment of White farmers.

Trump has claimed that White Afrikaner South African farmers are being slaughtered and forced off their land. The Afrikaners are descendants of mostly Dutch settlers who first arrived in South Africa in 1652. 

South Africa and its president have denied claims of genocide and harassment. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio already boycotted a G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in South Africa earlier this year over the government’s controversial land seizure policy.

Both the Trump and former Biden administrations have also criticized South Africa after the nation accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and brought a case to the International Court of Justice.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.

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Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuna Jr. was pulled from Tuesday night’s game against the Kansas City Royals after experiencing ‘right Achilles tightness,’ the team said.

He will be going on the 10-day injured list, according to reporters on the scene. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reported that Acuna was wearing a walking boot and that he ‘held back tears’ while talking with reporters after the game.

Acuna told reporters he will likely have an MRI on Wednesday.

The right fielder was lifted during the bottom of the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium, shortly after he appeared to be hampered trying to get to a pair of balls hit in the air. The latter play resulted in a ground-rule double for Vinnie Pasquantino that moved the Royals’ advantage to 9-3.

Eli White came in to replace Acuna, who lightly jogged off the field.

Acuna, the 2023 NL MVP, entered Wednesday’s game batting .309 on the season with a .430 on-base percentage, both the best marks on the Braves. He has appeared in 54 games.

The Royals held on for a 9-6 win to improve to 53-55. The Braves fell to 45-61.

(This story has been updated with new information.)

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The Cincinnati Bengals finally came to terms with top draft pick Shemar Stewart on a deal to end the rookie edge rusher’s holdout.

Four days later, the franchise is one step closer to welcoming the top sack artist in the NFL back to the fold.

Trey Hendrickson is ending his holdout and will report to Bengals training camp, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero. This comes a week after the Bengals’ veterans reported to training camp on July 22.

Hendrickson is entering the final year of his contract and had not reported to training camp as he was seeking out a new deal. One week ago, Hendrickson had called the Bengals’ latest offer ‘atrociously low’ and did not seem any closer to ending his holdout.

Hendrickson is set to make $16 million in 2025 in the final year of an extension he signed two years ago. Since signing that extension, he has led the NFL in sacks with 35, including a league-high 17.5 in 2024. He finished runner-up to Patrick Surtain II for the Defensive Player of the Year award.

The most productive player on the Bengals’ defense in recent years is entering his age-31 season after making the Pro Bowl each of the last four seasons.

‘Trey Hendrickson is a fine player and a good guy,’ Bengals owner Mike Brown said on July 21. ‘We want him here. Dealing with him is sometimes not so easy. That’s all right. He’s got the right to argue his case, we’ll try to make sense of it from our perspective … as far as I’m concerned, the sooner the better.’

Brown reiterated that the team is not interested in trading Hendrickson away.

‘We are working on getting it done,’ Brown said. ‘We’ve been through a few — and he pushes hard, he gets emotional. We never have an easy time of it. And if there’s one thing that is consistent, it always gets done. I think this one will too.”

Many other edge rushers — including some in his own division — have signed extensions this offseason, including Myles Garrett (Cleveland) and T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh). Those two deals reset the market for edge rushers and at an average annual value (AAV) of $40 million and $41 million, respectively, per OverTheCap.

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The Indiana Fever are riding a two-game win streak after defeating the Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky, but the Fever will face a major test on Wednesday against the Phoenix Mercury without All-Star guard Caitlin Clark.

Clark has been ruled out of Wednesday’s contest against the Mercury, marking the fifth consecutive game she’s missed due to a right groin injury suffered in the Fever’s win over the Connecticut Sun on July 15. Clark’s medical evaluations confirmed there’s ‘no additional injuries or damage,’ but the Fever said they will be cautious with Clark to ensure she’s ready to go later in the season and in the playoffs.

There’s no timetable for her return. Here’s everything you need to know about Clark’s injury status:

Is Caitlin Clark playing today? Injury status for Fever-Mercury

No. Clark was ruled out of the Fever’s matchup against the Mercury with a right groin injury.

How many games has Caitlin Clark missed this season?

The injury bug has been Clark’s biggest nemesis this season, forcing her to miss 13 of the Fever’s 26 games in her sophomore campaign, a career-high for Clark. The Fever (14-12) have gone 6-7 this season without the 2024 Rookie of the Year, but remain in playoff contention in sixth place in the standings.

Wednesday will mark the 14th regular-season game Clark has missed this season due to injury. Clark was previously sidelined five games due to a left quad injury and four games with a left groin injury. She also missed the Fever’s Commissioner’s Cup win over the Minnesota Lynx on July 1, in addition to the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game and the 3-point competition held in Indianapolis.

How was Caitlin Clark injured?

Clark suffered the right groin injury in the final minute of the Fever’s 85-77 victory over the Sun at TD Garden in Boston on July 15. With 39.1 seconds remaining in the contest, Clark completed a bounce pass to Kelsey Mitchell to put the Fever up 84-75. After the pass, Clark immediately grabbed for her right groin and grimaced as she gingerly walked over to a stanchion, which she headbutted. She did not return to the game. 

The injury happened days before the Fever were set to host the 2025 WNBA All-Star weekend in Indianapolis. Clark was voted a team captain and drafted her own team, but she ultimately pulled out of the All-Star Game and 3-point contest due to injuries, stating, ‘I have to rest my body.’

When will Caitlin Clark play again?

It’s not clear when Clark will make her return, but Fever head coach Stephanie White said the WNBA’s rigorous schedule is not helping the timeline.

‘I always think the WNBA season is like this sprint marathon,’ White said on Sunday. ‘You see more injuries when you don’t have a chance to recover, but it’s not like individual teams are the only ones that deal with it. This is a league-wide, collective issue. The NBA has a similar cadence, but they’ve got 30 teams and there’s not quite as much crisscrossing time zones and crisscrossing the country. So, it’s the challenge of the footprint of our schedule.’

The Fever start a four-game road trip on Friday and will travel to Dallas (Aug. 1), Seattle (Aug. 3), Los Angeles (Aug. 5) and Phoenix (Aug. 7) in the span of a week.

Caitlin Clark stats

Clark is averaging 16.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and a career-high 8.8 assists in 13 games this season. Her assists average is the second-highest in the league, behind Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas (9.4).

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From Gaza to Greenland, French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be taking increasingly bolder diplomatic stabs at President Donald Trump’s foreign policy even though such gestures don’t ‘carry weight’ as Trump pointed out last week after the French leader declared his intention to recognize a Palestinian state.

‘French Presidents from Charles de Gaulle onwards have reveled in the idea that they are a natural counterweight to U.S. foreign policy on the international stage,’ Alan Mendoza, executive director of the U.K.-based Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital Monday.

Charles de Gaulle was France’s long-serving leader in the 1950s and 1960s and was famously resistant to U.S. global dominance, withdrawing his country from NATO’s military command structure in a bid to increase its military independence and criticizing U.S. policies in Eastern Europe and Vietnam.

Such contrarian actions, Mendoza said, ‘have in many ways defined the French Fifth Republic, with larger-than-life characters thrusting their views onto the world stage.

‘The difference now is that France matters far less globally than it did 60 years ago,’ he said, adding that a weakening of the European country’s economy and its military might ‘means that where once de Gaulle could roar, now Macron whimpers.’ 

‘What was once a sign of French strength and confidence now therefore looks more like a desperate attempt to escape irrelevance,’ said Mendoza.

In a dramatic announcement last week, Macron said that at the United Nations General Assembly in September France intends to declare its recognition of a Palestinian state, even as Palestinian terror groups continue to battle Israel in the Gaza Strip. 

The statement drew condemnation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said such a move ‘rewards terror.’ 

It was also criticized by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called the decision ‘reckless’ and ‘a slap in the face to the victims of October 7th.’ He said the U.S. strongly rejected such a plan. 

Trump merely dismissed Macron’s Gaza move, telling reporters at the White House Friday ‘what he says doesn’t matter.’ 

‘He’s a very good guy. I like him, but that statement doesn’t carry weight,’ the president said.

This is not the first time the president has discounted Macron as inconsequential.

Last month, after the French president speculated about Trump’s reasons for leaving the G7 summit in Canada early and returning to Washington, the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, ‘Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay Tuned!’ 

In the same post, Trump said Macron was ‘publicity seeking.’ 

The disparaging comments came after Macron directly contradicted Trump’s foreign policy by stopping on his way to the summit in the semi-autonomous Arctic territory of Greenland, which Trump has said he wishes to acquire. 

‘Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken,’ Macron declared in a diplomatic stab at Trump’s foreign policy and seemingly an attempt to rally support from other European countries to stand up to the U.S. 

Asked about Trump’s ambitions for Greenland, Macron, according to Reuters, said, ‘I don’t think that’s what allies do. …  It’s important that Denmark and the Europeans commit themselves to this territory, which has very high strategic stakes and whose territorial integrity must be respected.’

In February, the French president paid his first visit to the White House since Trump’s return to power, and while the meeting appeared to be warm, it also came amid tension over the U.S. approach to the Russia-Ukraine war.

Hours before the meeting, the U.S. voted against a United Nations resolution drafted by Ukraine and the European Union condemning Russia for its invasion.

Tensions between Macron and Trump are not personal, said Mendoza, but they are also not totally ideological. 

They stem from Macron’s ‘desire to be relevant and to stand for something,’ he said. ‘The French are famous contrarians, but they do it for the sake of being contrarian.’

Reuel Marc Gerecht, a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Washington, D.C., think tank, said Macron was no ‘different from most European leaders. … Trump just isn’t their cup of tea.’

‘Most view Trump as a convulsive, hostile force who views America’s historic relationship with Europe as transactional,’ he said.  

‘Macron, like most French leaders, defines himself in part against the U.S.,’ Gerecht added, explaining that, traditionally, France and America ‘had a ‘mission civilisatrice’ or a competitive enlightenment mission.’ 

‘The American way has been enormously appealing in Europe since World War II, but it has come in part at the expense of the French, who have culturally lost a lot of ground to the Anglophones, especially the Americans,’ he said. ‘Consequently, many Frenchmen have a love-hate relationship with the U.S.’   

On Macron, Gerecht added, ‘He is part of the French elite. They are a bright lot who punch way above their weight, but, educationally, temperamentally, they are nearly the opposite of Trump.’ 

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