In what may be the greatest act of political satire ever performed by a plant, the symbolic “friendship tree” planted last year by Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron has died, according to reports in France. The French president gifted the young oak tree to Trump during a state visit to Washington in 2018. Photographs of the two planting the tree at the White House while their wives, Melania and Brigette, watched on were widely ridiculed on social media. But, as the two presidents’ budding bromance withered and died, so too did the tree. It was reportedly taken into quarantine after its planting with the intention of it being replanted, but it never was. In a tweet at the time, Macron said: “This oak tree (my gift to @realDonaldTrump]) will be a reminder at the White House of these ties that bind us.”
