French fire back at Trump’s tweet

ISLAMABAD: Messages flew in millions within minutes when images of flames burning down the Notre Dame - one of the most known cathedrals in the world – were shared on social media. And while the world observed the spectre in pain and misery, the US President Donald Trump came up with a unique solution to douse the blazing fire. He fired from his official Twitter account: “So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”.

His tweet was retweeted for 39,058 times within hours and attracted 202,872 likes. But a stern rebuke came promptly from the Securite Civile France (Civil Security of France) on its official account on Twitter.

“Hundred of firemen of the Paris Fire Brigade are doing everything they can to bring the terrible #NotreDame fire under control. All means are being used, except for water-bombing aircraft which, if used, could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”

The comments that President Trump’s tweet attracted were more interesting that his apparently benign wish for the crumbling cathedral. Neets, an American twitterati (tweetsofneets), wrote: “Notre president est tres stupide (our president is too stupid)”. Another American wrote in French too to make it easier for the francophone Twitter users to understand his sentiments easily: “Veuillez vous excuser pour notre cretin orange (please excuse our orange cretin). Edan Clay wrote back to the President Trump’s suggestive contribution: “Real leaders are sending condolences and you are trying to tell the amazingly skilled sapeurs-pompiers de Paris (firefighters of France) how to do their jobs? Really? You are embarrassing all of us.” Writing on behalf of “the entire planet,” Cristiano Scharlack was more direct in his response: “Please vacate the presidency and find a job as a fireman”. The US Late Show anchor Stephen Colbert said President Donald Trump must have thought the French were rushing to check Twitter for his advice as a fire raged Monday at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. “For firefighters, they really know how to give a sick burn,” Colbert cracked as he did an impression of the French reaction to Trump’s tweet.