Trump blasts Macron and blames Secret Service for skipping visit to war graves

Il pleut des excuses.

President Donald Trump is slamming French President Emmanuel Macron and pushing back against criticism he faced over the weekend for skipping a memorial marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that France would have been decimated in both world wars if not for the military might provided by the United States, complained about tariffs on U.S. wines sold in France and took a dig at Macron's approval rating, all before blaming the Secret Service for his non-appearance at Aisne-Marne American Cemetery.

The president claimed that the federal law enforcement agency shot down his idea to drive to the burial ground outside Paris on Saturday after his helicopter was grounded due to a storm.

"By the way, when the helicopter couldn't fly to the first cemetery in France because of almost zero visibility, I suggested driving," he wrote. "Secret Service said NO, too far from airport & big Paris shutdown."

He went on to misspell cemetery as he blasted the media for covering his decision to stay in his hotel as other world leaders braved the bad weather.

"Speech next day at American Cemetary in pouring rain! Little reported-Fake News!" he added.

Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau all made Saturday trips to memorials and cemeteries despite the weather.

The decision to skip the visit, coupled with Trump's complaints about the rain during a speech to veterans on Sunday and his choice to take a private motorcade through the Champs-Elysees over walking hand-in-hand with other world leaders to the Arc de Triomphe, cast a shadow over the president's Paris trip.

In a statement late Sunday, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said driving Trump out to the Aisne-Marne memorial on Saturday would have required closing "substantial portions of the Paris roadways ... on short notice," and the president didn't want to "cause that kind of unexpected disruption to the city and its people."

After returning to Washington, Trump spent Monday at the White House and did not visit Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia, a tradition that most commanders in chief take part in to honor American troops on Veterans Day.

The president lashed out at Macron, slamming him for having a "very low Approval Rating," and mocking France's defeat at the hands of Germany during World War II.

"Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two. How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along," Trump tweeted.

Macron drew Trump's ire over the weekend by appearing to take a swipe at the president in a speech on Sunday in which he called nationalism "a betrayal of patriotism."

Trump has recently embraced the term and declared himself a nationalist, claiming he was unaware the term carried racist connotations and associations with the rise of Nazis in Germany.

The president's Twitter tantrum struck a nerve with some in France, given that the social media assault came on the third anniversary of the Paris terror attacks that killed 130 people in 2015.

"We are already great, especially on november 13th. Go back to your room and give the phone to an adult," wrote French journalist Hugo Clement.

Trump, who owns a vineyard in Virginia, also knocked France, part of the European Union, for imposing tariffs on American wines.

"On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S. The problem is that France makes it very hard for the U.S. to sell its wines into France, and charges big Tariffs, whereas the U.S. makes it easy for French wines, and charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!"