Donald Trump\u2019s latest broadside against conservative provocateur Candace Owens took\u00a0a\u00a0somewhat\u00a0unexpected\u00a0turn when it detoured into fulsome praise of Brigitte Macron.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a pugilistic Truth Social post, Trump mocked Owens for spreading conspiracy theories about the French first lady but went further,\u00a0sharply\u00a0contrasting both\u00a0her credibility and appearance\u00a0against\u00a0\u201ccrazy\u201d\u00a0Owens.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was a striking tonal shift from a president who has recently used Brigitte as a punchline in his feud with French President Emmanuel Macron over the war with Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The episode offers\u00a0a revealing glimpse into how Trump weaponizes\u00a0personal relationships\u2014be it for\u00a0flattery\u00a0or mockery\u2014as instruments of politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Compliment\u00a0With\u00a0Purpose<\/p>\n
On its face, Trump\u2019s attack on Owens was about intra\u2011MAGA discipline\u00a0amid an unfurling civil war within the movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Owens has\u00a0emerged\u00a0as a sharp critic of Trump\u2019s war with Iran, and her long\u2011running\u00a0false\u00a0claims about Brigitte Macron\u2019s\u00a0sex\u00a0have drawn a defamation lawsuit from the French first lady.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In slapping Owens down publicly\u2014calling her \u201ccrazy\u201d while praising Brigitte\u2014Trump was policing the boundaries of acceptable dissent\u00a0against\u00a0him\u00a0and\u00a0punching what may turn out to be an expensive\u00a0bruise.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calling Owens \u201cCrazy,\u201d Trump said she \u201caccuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it\u2019s not even close!\u201d Trump continued.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But the praise lands\u00a0awkwardly. Just days earlier, Trump had\u00a0joked\u00a0to Republicans in Congress\u00a0that the French president\u2019s wife \u201ctreats him extremely badly\u201d as he criticized France for refusing to join U.S.\u00a0military operations\u00a0against Iran.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He jested that President Macron was\u00a0\u201cstill recovering from the right to the jaw\u201d after\u00a0an apparent\u00a0slap delivered by his wife and caught on camera during an official trip to Vietnam last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The juxtaposition was classic Trump: Brigitte Macron as both shield and cudgel, deployed depending on the political target.\u00a0Long-term consistency mattered less than short-term utility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It also came just days after first lady Melania Trump had warmly hosted Brigitte Macron, along with other leaders’ spouses, for a summit on educating children about advanced technology.<\/p>\n
France has also notified the White House that it is planning an invitation<\/a> for Trump to a lavish dinner at Versailles after the G7 summit in June and ahead of historic July 4 celebrations, hoping to secure the president’s attendance at the global gathering.<\/p>\n Emmanuel Macron\u2019s response to Trump was brief, calling the remarks “not elegant, nor up to standard\u201d and saying they did not merit any response.\u00a0<\/p>\n The softness toward Brigitte this time around\u00a0may have\u00a0served a secondary\u00a0purpose.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s bombastic criticism of NATO allies, and insistence that the U.S.\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0need them anyway, belies his real desire for them to join the Iran war and commit to helping him reopen the Strait of Hormuz.\u00a0<\/p>\n The warm words can be seen, perhaps, as\u00a0his attempt to undo some of the diplomatic damage caused by his joke about the Macrons, and\u00a0warm up\u00a0relations\u00a0between the two presidents\u00a0at a pivotal moment in\u00a0the Iran crisis.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n His words, Trump might hope, will be whispered like sweet nothings in a presidential briefing at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Complimenting a foreign leader\u2019s spouse costs Trump little, but it creates the impression\u2014at least momentarily\u2014of personal goodwill in an otherwise fractious relationship.\u00a0<\/p>\n France, Iran, and the Limits of Alliance<\/p>\n The tensions\u00a0over Iran\u00a0are\u00a0painful.\u00a0France has been among the most vocal Western powers resisting Trump\u2019s calls for allied military participation in reopening the Strait of Hormuz during active hostilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n In March, Macron\u00a0stated\u00a0flatly that France\u00a0\u201cwill never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context,\u201d\u00a0directly contradicting Trump\u2019s public suggestion that Paris was on board.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, France has been quietly positioning itself as a post\u2011conflict stabilizer.\u00a0<\/p>\n