Lucas: Rough landing for French president

If nothing else French President Emmanuel Macron established that he can take a punch And his wife Brigitte manifested that she can deliver one too Well it was not exactly a punch when the French first lady shove slapped Macron in the face upon disembarking from their plane in Hanoi the other day It was more of a stiff arm to the face worthy of an NFL running back Only Macron did not go down but did his best to play the case down Since the -year-old Brigitte was not carrying a football and Macron was not wearing a helmet with a face guard Brigitte was able to use both hands to the face of her -year-old husband No penalty was called Talk about in-your-face though Macron had to feel like he was back at La Providence a Catholic high school in France when as a -year-old pupil he fell for Brigitte who then was a -year-old married drama trainer with three children No doubt she at first brushed Macron off with a punch line rather than punch given their age difference Yet they began an affair when Macron was and Brigitte was old enough to be his mother All the while Brigitte s parents thought the teenager Macron was dating Brigitte s daughter and not the mother A real French deadbeat which Macron is not would have been dating both After a divorce the pair got married in when Macron was and Brigitte was They have been together ever since But the slap presented that the pupil should never make his lecturer angry The video of the episode which went around the world shows Macron standing in front of the plane s exit door after it landed in Hanoi the start of a week-long tour of the region Macron appears to be talking to someone on his right Suddenly Brigitte s arms appear slapping and pushing into Macron s face causing him to step back Being the veteran politician that he is Macron hurriedly turns smiles and waves to onlookers as though nothing out of the ordinary had just happened when in fact the first lady of France has just smashed the French president in the mouth In something of a role reversal Emmanuel Macron ended up covering up for Brigitte Macron the way Jill Biden covered up for Joe Biden In other words what you saw like Joe Biden stumbling around or Brigitte lashing out is not really what you saw What you saw Macron later commented was the pair joking around or play-fighting although neither looked happy descending the plane Brigitte did not hold Macron s hand It would have been helpful if Macron let everyone in on the joke Macron revealed the affair was misinterpreted and overblown into a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe We are squabbling and rather joking with my wife Macron revealed Everyone demands to calm down Macron s office also downplayed the affair It announced It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around It s a moment of complicity It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists Ah the conspiracy theorists What would we do without them As divorce rumors swirl around former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle the thought came to me what would happen if Michelle threw a punch at Barack Unlike Brigitte who did not knock Macron down Michelle would have decked Barack Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas can be reached at peter lucas bostonherald com