Former French Ambassador Gérard Araud On Donald Trump: He’s “A Really Big Mouth”

Gérard Araud was the former French ambassador to the United States, a position he retired from last Friday. Araud, 66, has since opened up in interviews about what it was like trying to work with President Donald Trump, and he did not mince words.

Speaking with Foreign Policy, Araud compared Trump to his immediate predecessor, Barack Obama. The former French representative described Obama as the “ultimate bureaucrat, an introvert, basically a bit aloof, a restrained president.” While Obama could be “a bit arrogant” too, Araud never doubted his commitment to his work. Obama was “basically somebody who every night was going to bed with 60-page briefings and the next day they were sent back annotated by the president,” Araud said.

In contrast, Trump is “an extrovert, really a big mouth, who reads basically nothing or nearly nothing, with the interagency process totally broken and decisions taken from the hip basically.” Araud also quipped how he hopes his own successor doesn’t have any heart problems, implying Trump’s conduct regarding the Iran Deal adversely affected his.

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In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Araud discussed the disorganized nature of Trump’s White House. “A lot of offices are still empty, two years after the inauguration of President Trump,” the French politician noticed. “Or people are appointed and they leave after one year. Or if there are people in the office … they don’t know what the President will decide the day after. So in a sense, it’s dysfunctional.”

Araud concludes that the United States “is not anymore the policeman of the world.” When asked if Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron share a “bromance” with each other, Araud completely dismissed the idea, mentioning how it doesn’t “make any sense.”