Donald Trump and Jill Biden: what did they say to each other at the Notre Dame inauguration?

There was a chair separating them inside Notre-Dame and the distance has never seemed so small between Donald Trump and Jill Biden, between the next president of the United States and the wife of the current occupant of the White House. Joe Biden’s mandate ends on January 20th, with Trump’s swearing-in. For Jill Biden, this is the last official trip to Europe as First Lady: she was in Sicily, to visit the Sigonella base and then to see her family’s hometown. The stop in Paris for the reopening of Notre-Dame was institutional and long-awaited. For Jill Biden, the meeting with Trump, which she was known to have accepted, was also obvious and expected the invitation of French President Macron.

Donald Trump, who was instead on his first official outing after his electoral victory, and Biden’s second wife, who was here with her daughter Ashley, were not sitting together in the renovated cathedral. In the chair that divided them there was Brigitte Macron’s seat and next to the tycoon, on the other side, was the French president. When the hosts stood up there were no longer any barriers to divide the American guests.

What did they say to each other? Hard to say. They certainly talked. The photos show it. The meeting appears to have been cordial and the admiration for the cathedral rebuilt after the fire that partially destroyed it in 2019 is clear. Perhaps more pleasantries than anything else, but not a clash, not faces facing in opposite directions.

Jill Biden’s visit, embraced by President Macron and his wife upon arrival, was one of institutional presence. Trump’s speech, accompanied by Elon Musk, had a clear political meaning. He met Macron and Zelensky separately, he also had a meeting with Giorgia Meloni who wrote on social media: «This evening at the Elysée with @realDonaldTrump and @elonmusk was a pleasant opportunity for dialogue».