Published on 04.12.2018 at 19h54 by AFP

Why have French rioters been battling police in Paris? Because they want to be led by Trump, according to a theory retweeted by the president himself Tuesday.

“‘We want Trump’ being chanted through the streets of Paris,” said conservative student activist Charlie Kirk in a tweet relayed by the president to his more than 56 million Twitter followers.

Most demonstrators have expressed anger over plans to increase fuel taxes and more general anger at inequality in France.

Reprising one of Trump’s favorite themes, Kirk tweeted that the media was failing to report the real story.

“There are riots in socialist France because of radical leftist fuel taxes. Media barely mentioning this,” Kirk wrote, although the fuel tax issue has been given blanket coverage around the world.

“America is booming, Europe is burning They want to cover up the middle class rebellion against cultural Marxism,” he wrote in the punctuation- and grammar-light message.