Delusions of grandeur
The Times reports on President Trump’s visit to France as the guest of French President Emanuel Macron:
Mr Macron told Le Journal du Dimanche that Mr Trump had been influenced by the way that American city officials and business leaders had continued to support the agreement and that he understood the French argument that climate change contributed to terrorism. Mr Macron believes that extreme weather is worsening the migration crisis and provoking conflict over dwindling resources [my emphasis].
The migration crisis in Europe is being caused by war, tyranny, persecution, endemic poverty and the people-smuggling racket. The terrorism to which Macron was referring is caused by a fanatical interpretation of Islam. There is no evidence that changes to the global climate are significantly deviating from the historic pattern of global temperature warming and cooling over time. The suggestion that mass migration or Islamist terrorism are being driven by climate change and dwindling resources is unhinged.
Macron’s regal tone, his incontinent boasting about his achievements and his pretensions to running what he calls a “Jupiterian” presidency have made him, after only two months in the job, the object of media mockery in France and provoked comparisons with Louis XIV or the “Sun King”. His EU-fanaticism makes him an enemy of democracy and an active threat to Britain over Brexit.
Yet he is widely referred to as a “centrist”. This tells you everything you need to know about the civilisational crisis in the west.
