“What a great troll!”: Macron's line congratulating Trump makes people laugh on X

Emmanuel Macron's congratulatory message to Donald Trump has caused a lot of reaction on social networks. One sentence was perceived as having a double meaning.

Emmanuel Macron, who had a rather strained relationship with Donald Trump at the end of his first term, was the first head of state of a major Western power to extend his congratulations to the billionaire who will lead the United States again in January. The French president knows that the arrival of The White House of the populist businessman creates a new diplomatic and geopolitical climate in which Europe's positions will have to be heard in order to anticipate the balance of power and the hostility that will set in.

The Matignon tenant thus wrote this message: “Congratulations President Donald Trump. Ready to work together as we have been able to do for four years. With your convictions and with mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity”. This short statement was also written in English and was viewed at least 5 million times, according to statistics from the X network. And one formulation caused a lot of reaction: “With your convictions”. In English, this term is quite ambiguous, it can be translated as “convictions, opinions”, but also as “convictions” in its judicial meaning.

The English-language comments are very numerous and dozens of Internet users have highlighted what they consider to be a mockery. “I wonder if Macron has not reached the ultimate level of troll by mentioning Trump's convictions!”, jokes one user. “What a great troll,” can be read under the message of the French president. Many people respond to him with humor, others indicate that this word does not have the same meaning in the two languages. But can the French president, who speaks fluent English, risk make a faux pas ? "He knew what he was doing", remarks an Internet user, who suspects that such a message is read and reread several times before being sent.

We do not know how Donald Trump reacted when he read this message from Emmanuel Macron. But the two men called each other for more than 20 minutes on Wednesday, November 6, to discuss the issues they will have to deal with together. According to the Élysée, the two presidents expressed their “willingness to work towards the return of peace and stability” in the face of the “major international crises currently underway”. The Élysée services also insisted on the fact that this meeting had been "warm".