The French president has been criticised for cosying up to Donald Trump but at least he waved the tattered European flag

By coincidence rather than design, Emmanuel Macron’s address to a joint session of the US Congress took place on the 58th anniversary of a similarly grand Washington occasion starring another French president, Charles de Gaulle. Comparing Macron to his more famous predecessor is not particularly instructive. The two men belong to very different ages, but there are some interesting likenesses.

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Both are, or were, passionate patriots, with a strong belief in the natural pre-eminence of the French nation. Like De Gaulle, Macron enjoys the pomp and ceremony of high office. And Macron, too, is accused of elitism and superciliousness. François Hollande, the Socialist ex-president, recently warned of monarchical tendencies. “Never forget [we are] in a country where the king had his head cut off,” he said.

Macron, whose first anniversary in office falls next month, made a splash in Washington partly because his youthful self-confidence (he is still only 40) appeals to a country where energetic brashness is counted a virtue. But there were other, more substantive reasons. One was recognition that Macron is a leader who knows what he believes in. Another was the evident fact he is ready to fight for it.

Macron’s speech to Congress, as is traditional, massaged egos to an outrageous degree. Like Alexis de Tocqueville, he understands America’s need to be reassured of its innate greatness. But amid the flattery, Macron did not pull his punches. On global inequality, climate change, free trade, Syria and Iran, US leadership in the age of Donald Trump was either wanting or leading in the wrong direction, he warned.

“The 21st century has brought a series of new threats and new challenges,” Macron said. “This requires more than ever US involvement, as your role was decisive for creating and safeguarding this free world. The US is the one who invented this multilateralism. You are the one who has to help now to preserve and reinvent it.”

Opinion is divided over whether Macron achieved anything concrete. Some at home said he got too close to Trump, drawing comparisons with Tony Blair and George W Bush. Macron admitted his arguments against US withdrawal next month from the Iran nuclear deal fell on deaf ears. The next few days will tell whether Trump imposes tariffs on European steel and aluminium. On the Paris climate treaty, which Trump dumped, Macron merely asserted that history was on his side.

But successful or not, at least Macron tried. On key policy issues, he stood up to the bully in the White House. And he left Washington in no doubt as to his and France’s vision of a progressive, rules-based, collaborative and democratic world order. In these days of rising authoritarianism and crude nationalism in Russia, China, the US and parts of Europe, it was a message worth delivering.

Europe and Britain have good reason to be grateful. Macron’s presidential extravaganza was followed in short order by an altogether lower-key “working visit” to the White House by Angela Merkel – and what a contrast it provided. Not long ago, Germany’s chancellor was hailed as Europe’s saviour. Commentators appalled by Trump’s victory described her hyperbolically as the “last defender of the liberal west”.

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Plainly flattered, Merkel told German voters in 2017 that it was time for Europeans to “take our fate into our own hands”. The implication was clear: America under Trump, and Brexit Britain, could no longer be relied upon. The European moment had finally arrived. So what happened? The electorally weakened Merkel who showed up on Friday appeared over-cautious, and almost deferential, as a patronising Trump strutted his stuff with trademark imbecility.

If Merkel looked beaten down, how utterly defeated is Theresa May after a week in which Downing Street finally capitulated to Trump’s insistence on visiting the UK. May did well in confronting Vladimir Putin’s Russia after the Salisbury poisoning. She kept it together during the recent Syrian crisis over Bashar al-Assad’s use of chemical weapons. But faced by another overbearing oaf – and lacking an independent, alternative vision for Britain – she caved in. Trump is not welcome here, as we have said before. At a minimum, May should spare the Queen the embarrassment of hosting him. Let underemployed Prince Andrew or some other lesser royal do it.

Just as it was foolish to pin Europe’s hopes on Merkel, so it would be wrong to burden Macron with similar expectations. The French leader’s ambitious ideas about eurozone and defence integration have limited support. The EU’s post-Brexit 2021 budget negotiations, resuming next week, could prove bloody. At home, opponents of Macron’s public sector reforms and tax cuts are rallying. One poll puts his approval rating at 40% and falling.

More trouble looms. Next month will see another significant anniversary – 50 years since the 1968 strikes and student uprisings that targeted De Gaulle. It is unclear how Macron will mark this still controversial episode or, indeed, whether his still novel presidency of the centre will ultimately implode in failure. But for now at least, in an intolerant world beset by fools and knaves, he carries Europe’s tattered banner.