Page A219From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 21 October 2026
As it ran on the front
Today we are making a closing argument, which is not a dish you can get over here, so I shall go slowly. A closing argument needs a filling or it collapses on the way to the table, and this year Trump and his inner circle have reached across the Atlantic for one: a weekend of rioting in Paris, folded in to warn that a Democratic Congress would bring the same chaos and destruction home.
Start the filling early, before anyone notices it travelling. On September twenty-third the Washington Examiner had Macron waving off Trump's rivalry over a triumphal arch, calling monuments bigger than either man. On October seventeenth, with buildings burning, Macron promised rioters would be 'prosecuted and punished'; the same day the protests themselves widened to a hundred and forty cities, the demonstrators citing inequality, the cost of living and the state of French schools.…
Clive Retaken. That's rather the word for what I did to my own closing stanza, if we're trading retakings.
Gary Retaken. You retook a stanza. I could retake the back door with a crowbar before lunch and have something to show the house for it.
Now the filling arrives fully cooked. On Wednesday the New York Post served looting, buildings on fire and thousands of arrests under the heading 'Anarchy in France,' and the Washington Examiner answered with 'France has fallen. America can't be next,' putting 'protesters' and 'protesting' in quotation marks, the way one holds a thing one does not believe. Macron, visiting Doha, called the comments 'stupid' and 'unacceptable,' and said there was no evidence foreign actors had instigated the protests. He warned the French public of 'foreign manipulation' in the same breath. You will be looking for the evidence under that warning. There is none in this kitchen; the warning is what stands in for it.
Keith Evidence. I don't need evidence, I need a market. Two leaders trading insults over a riot, I could sell that twice before Thursday.
Le Monde, which is what they read there, prints it plainest: Trump's camp 'exploiting' France's riots to energize the MAGA base, the violence of October seventeenth turned to warnings about immigration and Muslims, timed to a Democratic win in Congress that would supposedly expose America to the same dangers.
It serves Trump's campaign a closing argument thirteen days before Americans vote. The bill for the filling goes first to the thousands already arrested in France, and then to whatever the Americans themselves decide on November third.
Rob Not much notice, is it. Less than the landlord gave us about the meter, and at least the French get arrested for their trouble.
“A guy picks a riot in another country to scare voters about his own, and the ally's own newspaper says flat out it's strategy for turnout. Macron, who actually watched the fires, calls it stupid. That's the tell: when the threat on your screen is further from your house than the rent you can't make, somebody's selling you a fire so you won't look at the one at home.”
“He's not blaming France, he's just pointing out a pattern — riots over there, Democrats over here, connect the dots yourself. Macron calling it "stupid" is pretty rich coming from the guy whose own capital's on fire — wait, did I just say his capital's on fire? That's not — that's a separate issue.”
Earlier in this story
The receipts
Teachers spent an average of $895 of their own money on classroom supplies last school year AdoptAClassroom.org 2025 Teacher Spending Survey
France has fallen. America can’t be nextSince it’s a day that ends in “day,” the French seem busy doing what they do best: expressing their political dissatisfaction by having a good old-fashioned riot. This time (according to the legacy media), the “protesters”
The US president and his inner circle have repeatedly used the violence of October 17 to denounce immigration and Muslims, warning that a Democratic victory in the midterm elections on November 3 would expose the United States to the same dangers.
Protests erupted throughout France on Saturday, with demonstrators citing a wide variety of grievances including inequality, the high cost of living, and poor conditions in the nation's schools. As reported by Agence France-Presse, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris and other cities to protest what they said was inaction…
French President Emmanuel Macron accused President Donald Trump of making “stupid” and “unacceptable” comments about the riots that have ravaged Paris, accusing him of twisting the chaos for his own political gain.
High school students across France on Thursday once again took to the streets to protest against against the state of the country’s schools.
Teachers spent an average of $895 of their own money on classroom supplies last school year AdoptAClassroom.org 2025 Teacher Spending Survey
Anarchy in France: Behind the riots and violent protestsLooting, rioting, and entire buildings going up in flames. These are the scenes that have poured out of France over the weekend showing anarchy nationwide, leading to thousands of arrests. The riots, initially attributed to discontent over the state of education and the high cost of living, come as furious students all over the world...
French President Emmanuel Macron released a statement on Saturday afternoon denouncing violent rioters who defaced national landmarks and attacked law enforcement officers in an escalation of protests that began last month. “No room for violence in our Republic,” he said, referencing the increasingly hostile clashes between protesters…
· Macron scoffs at Trump arch rivalry: ‘Monuments are bigger than ourselves’ from the morgue, 23 Sep 2026
· French student riots spill across Europe as Belgian minister attributes violence to antifa from the morgue, 8 Oct 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.