It is only fitting that Donald Trump was honored by French President Emmanuel Macron at the grand reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris over the weekend.

The church was severely damaged by a fire in 2019 but was restored to its natural architectural and religious state after millions of dollars were raised from contributors from around the world.

The coveted invitation from Macron to Trump—Joe Biden did not attend—meant that Trump got the opportunity, amid the pomp and ceremony, to mingle with scores of prime ministers and presidents even though Trump will not be president again until Jan. 20.

But he was treated as though he already was president.

No big deal, though, since Trump has been acting as president anyway even though he has not yet been crowned. So, it was only natural that he showed up at Notre Dame while Joe Biden was stumbling around in Angola and elsewhere.

Notre Dame is, after all, the site where Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned emperor 220 years earlier when at the time the French leader ran out of countries to conquer.

That would change, of course, but no one could tell him that.

Napoleon was such an egomaniac, however, that, in Trumpian fashion, he took the French crown out of the hands of Pope Pius VII, who was scheduled to do the crowning, and crowned himself.

The French people loved it.  He was their kind of emperor. At least while he was winning.

This is not to suggest that Trump would have liked to be crowned Napoleon-like instead of being sworn into office while he was at the Notre Dame ceremony.

And why not? The Democrats have called him Hitler, a Nazi, a fascist, a dictator, a threat to democracy and a general all-around scoundrel.

They would have called him Napoleon too, if they had thought of it. If they did, they would  have upset the French, however, who believe he had good intentions, except when something went wrong, like invading Russia.

Still, Trump brought a lot of criticism upon himself when he joked about being a dictator for one day, the first day in office as president, when he promised to reverse all of the executive orders that Joe Biden reversed on him.

These pending reversals include shutting down the border, digging for oil, deporting criminal illegal immigrants, to name just a few of his coming diktats.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not think was so funny when Trump, emperor-like, joked about making Canada the fifty-first state unless Trudeau increased security on the northern border.

Joking aside, it is obvious that world leaders, headed by Macron, have a different, almost awesome attitude toward Trump compared to the way they viewed him the first time around.

European leaders did not know what to make of him during his first trip to Europe after he defeated Hillary Clinton for president in 2016.  He was unlike any American president they had dealt with before. Some liked him, some did not. And they all considered him washed up after he was defeated by Joe Biden in 2020.

Now Trump is back, bigger and bolder than ever, riding back to power on the wings of a mandate.

He may not be president yet, or “crowned,” but he is already leading the country and the world.

Canada and Mexico are bending to Trump on border security and fentanyl drug smuggling or face economic consequences. China, too.   Volodymyr Zelensky in the Ukraine is for the first time talking about negotiations to end the war with Russia; Israel is pleased with Trump’s support while Iran is worried. And Hamas is weighing Trump’s threat to force it to release the hostages, or else.

On the home front Trump appointee Tom Homan is setting up protocols to deport thousands of criminal illegal immigrants. Trump has promised to save U.S. Steel from a Japanese takeover, and the Trump inspired LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) has voted to prohibit biological men from participating in its events.

And Trump has yet  to even be crowned.

Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com

Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales meets U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at the UK Ambassador’s Residence Saturday in Paris, France. (Photo by Aaron Chown – Pool/Getty Images)