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Article snippet: WASHINGTON — To the extent that President Trump or his strategists saw his against-the-odds election last year as the leading edge of an international movement, the presidential vote in France over the weekend signaled that Europe was not ready to enlist. Despite the rise of nationalist parties and Britain’s vote last year to leave the European Union, the victory of the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron over the far-right insurgent Marine Le Pen represented the third time since Mr. Trump’s election that voters in Europe have essentially rejected his fiery brand of politics. Rather than finding a series of like-minded figures in power across the Atlantic, Mr. Trump now finds himself facing a European tandem in Mr. Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany that strongly supports the European Union and will take a harder line on President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia. While populist sentiment remains strong in Europe, there are fewer paths ahead for candidates aligned with Mr. Trump’s thinking to assume power in key countries. “The notion of a kind of ‘Internationale’ of the nationalists is no longer going to be viable at all,” Daniel Fried, a former assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said on a conference call organized by the Atlantic Council on Monday. “It changes the landscape in which Trump’s foreign policy will operate.” Mr. Macron “now stands as a counterweight to Trump,” Mr. Fried said. The combination of a seasoned, dominant figure like M... Link to the full article to read more