Macron for the win.

[Hekate]

19. Pres. Macron was prepared this time. Reminds me of the time former Amb Joe Wilson talked about Saddam Hussein...

This was way back when Wilson got in trouble for providing correct info to Dubya about yellowcake uranium — he and his wife Valerie Plame both got destroyed by Dick Cheney by way of thanks.

Anyway Wilson hit the lecture circuit and ended up in Santa Barbara (UCSB was his alma mater) and proved to be an interesting speaker.

Someone warned Wilson that Saddam’s handshake went like this: as his guest approached with hand out and eyes on Saddam’s face, the strongman would hold his own hand much lower than normal. As the puzzled guest ducked his head, cameras would snap a picture of the foreign dignitary virtually bowing to Iraq’s glorious leader.

Wilson made eye contact, kept eye contact, and kept his own outstretched hand just a bit higher than normal, and it was Saddam who had to look down for the missing hand.

I hope that Macron is the first of a long string of male foreign leaders who meet bullying with a prolonged crushing grip of their own. The women leaders are strong in their own right, but I have no idea how a woman could handle having her hand crushed — except, have someone study films of how he acts to female leaders and decide in advance how to head off the obnoxious behavior — the shoving, ignoring, walking in front of, and crass comments.

Merci, President Macron.