Democracy Dies in Darkness
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At state dinner, Biden and Macron stand ‘shoulder to shoulder’
The presidents clinked crystal to cap a whirl of bonhomie, spiced with slight disagreement
8 min
On Thursday night, the youngest-ever French president and the oldest-ever American president toasted each other during the White House’s first state dinner in more than three years, since before the pandemic swept away millions of lives and froze Washington’s fancy rituals. Emmanuel Macron, three weeks from turning 45, raised a slender crystal Baccarat flute of California brut rosé to President Biden, freshly 80, whose vessel reportedly contained the divine elixir of the teetotaler: ginger ale.
