As France prepares the re-opening of the great Notre Dame cathedral at the heart of Paris, President Trump has announced that he will be attending the opening ceremony.

On his Truth Social account (via X) he stated:

It's a magnificent gesture, a recognition of the incredible work and love the French poured into this great national project, the restoration of the great cathedral at the heart of its capital and indeed at the center of its country, fresher, cleaner, more beautiful than ever, and complete with tech upgrades to deter future disasters. At the same time, the restoration was fully cognizant and respecting of the past, because it wouldn't be recognized otherwise. Parisians, even in this secular age, valued the cathedral as the heart and soul of their city far more than Paris's more famous landmarks. It comforted them to walk by this mighty thousand-year-old edifice in the capital, and now it's there, gleaming in greater splendor than they had ever seen it before, the work of human hands driven by Divine inspiration. 

Young people learned whole new trades in order to restore this cathedral to its former glory. Restorers, known as "companions" -- at least a thousand -- were celebrated on billboards around Paris. The forests of Europe were searched high and low for the necessary wood of tallest growth to replace what had been built and lost to fire. The French rallied together as a nation to do it.

This past Sunday, 60 Minutes had a wonderful segment on the restoration and opening of the cathedral describing many of these details. It featured a splendid interview with France's President Emmanuel Macron, full of pride at the achievement, explaining in perfect English that "impossible is not French."

So much went into it, and yes, they did almost lose it, but they didn't -- they persisted, much of the world backing them, and now winning, restoring their cathedral to its rightful place in their great city.

As Robert Louis Stevenson once said:

Mankind was never so happily inspired as when it made a cathedral.

I bring this stuff up to underline that this is a very big deal -- the miraculous restoration, the pride of the French, and the extraordinay achievement that does indeed deserve to draw heads of state to the reopening. In a way, it's like the moon launch. Nobody thought it could be done.

Trump recognized this, and immediately accepted the invitation to come.

And Joe Biden? Mr. Devout Catholic, as Jen Psaki insisted, jingling his rosary beads in his pocket? Well, he's sending Jill, like it's a museum opening, a first lady-type event. He himself is staying home.

Which doesn't exactly speak well for him or his ability to recognize the great act that the French and everyone else are right to celebrate. It's likely he has no appreciation for the significance of the cathedral, let alone respect for U.S. relations with the French which should always be close and friendly.

As for why, well, maybe there's some kind of history between Biden and Macron -- he sent Jill along for the Paris Olympics earlier this year, the one where American athletes shined something fierce -- claiming the French organizers "barred him" because of the commotion he would cause.

Color me skeptical, given how many times we have seen world leaders ignore him, and crowds fail to show up to his rallies. As for his being insentient and possibly having toilet issues, maybe so, but he did just get back from Angola, which is a heckuva lot more involved, as presidential trips go, than France.

Same deal with his vice president, Kamala Harris, who isn't going either, and who has a history of anti-Catholicism. Why would she want to 'waste' a trip to Paris on a cathedral instead of shopping and Instagramming?

It just goes to show how small, unfit, unaware, and unpresidential the Biden-Harris administration really is.

Meanwhile, Trump and Macron have gotten along fabulously in the past, as the New York Times's Maggie Haberman notes.

As for Trump going, well, here's Haberman's cynical take:

The news of the trip was in some ways unsurprising. Mr. Trump loves ceremony and grandeur as it relates to construction sites, especially historic ones. And it marks his return to the world stage.

Sure thing, Mags. He likes construction sites.

Actually, he likes Catholic stuff, a big one Haberman still hasn't caught onto.

He's surrounded by Catholics, for one -- J.D. Vance, his son-in-law Massad Boulos (Maronite Catholic in full communion with Rome), Melania Trump, Sean Duffy, Marco Rubio, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and possibly Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. They aren't the only people in his inner circle -- there are prominent Jews, Hindus, and Protestants, too, but Catholics, the real kind, not Joe Biden's kind, seem pretty prominent.

Trump also won the Catholic vote in the election, besting previous Republicans, and his Catholic-hating Democrat opponent, by a country mile.

But he's done a lot of Catholic things that can't be explained as campaign pandering. Sure, he wished the Blessed Virgin Mary a happy birthday during the campaign, posting a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which delighted Catholic voters. He also posted his best wishes for All Saints Day.

But he's since had a post-election visit paid to him at Mar-a-Lago by Fr. Chad Ripperger, the Catholic Church's best-known exorcist. That wasn't campaign-oriented at all, nor was it publicized much. One can just imagine what that was about.

He's often spoken of how the brush with death in July against an assassin's bullet did much to make him think in a religious way.

I have no idea if Trump plans to convert to Catholicism -- maybe he just likes it -- but if he does, it wouldn't be surprising, given his attraction to it. (Tony Blair did, so it's not unprecedented.)

Now Trump plans to visit the great cathedral of Notre Dame in all its restored glory, a place whose primary purpose is as a place Catholic worship with many devout attendees (I knew some from my days in Beverly Hills), a very holy place as well as a great landmark.

It's presidential. It's great for Franco-U.S. relations. But it also points to an affirmation of Judeo-Christian values and morality, which Trump seems determined to restore in the U.S. 

Good move, Mr. President. It's a great thing when presidents recognize what's presidential.

Image: Screen shot from 60 Minutes video, via YouTube