Donald Trump, fresh from posting possibly his most inaccurate tweet ever on Friday, swiftly followed up a day later with a complete misunderstanding of what the current protests in Paris are about.
As police in France clash with protesters angry at President Emmanuel Macron and France’s high taxes, the US President somehow concluded they were rallying against the Paris Climate Accords.
He tweeted on Saturday: “The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests and riots all over France. People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment. Chanting “We Want Trump!” Love France.”
There are no reports of protestors chanting “we want Trump” and the claim originated from a number of American conservatives earlier in the week, none of whom were in Paris.
The only time “we want Trump” has been shouted on the streets of a European capital was in June when supporters of the far-right Tommy Robinson did so in London.
Make of that what you will.
Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change in June of last year in a speech in which he claimed he “cares deeply about the environment” as the rest of the world looked on in despair.
Just last month the president rejected a central conclusion of a dire report on the economic costs of climate change released by his own administration.
The report noted the last few years have smashed US records for damaging weather, costing nearly 400 billion dollars (£312 billion) since 2015.
“I’ve seen it, I’ve read some of it, and it’s fine,” the Republican president told reporters at the White House. Asked about severe economic impacts, he said.
“I don’t believe it.”
It’s been a remarkable weekend already for the President – on Friday he asserted he was “totally cleared” by the latest revelations in the Russia probe despite the release of a trove of incriminating court documents.
After making the highly dubious assertion, many commentators suggested Trump wasn’t aware that all of the documents refer to him not by name, but as “Individual-1”.