Trump blames 'ridiculous and extremely expensive Paris Agreement' for protests in France


President Trump on Twitter Saturday repeatedly linked the weekend's "yellow vest" protests in France to the Paris climate accord from which he withdrew the United States in 2017:
Trump's claim that demonstrators in Paris have chanted about him seems to be based on a tweet from Charlie Kirk, a pro-Trump activist. Kirk's post does not include any video or audio evidence of the supposed chants; it may reference a Rush Limbaugh commentary citing unnamed "friends." The account has no independent confirmation.
Yellow vest protesters initially assembled over a gas tax hike, but the protests also take issue with France's high cost of living more generally and the administration of French President Emmanuel Macron. The new fuel tax has been canceled, but the demonstrations continue with demands for Macron's resignation, a higher minimum wage, lower taxes, and more.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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