It was a little after 6 pm in Hanoi on Monday, May 26, Emmanuel Macron was about to join his Vietnamese counterpart, Luong Cong, for a state dinner. The French president had arrived in Vietnam the previous day – the first stop on a Southeast Asia tour that will later take him to Indonesia and Singapore.

Macron, looking satisfied, claimed to have "sown" the seeds of prosperity in the Asian country to help foster commercial ties between France and Vietnam, which is eager to find alternatives to its American and Chinese partners. A few contracts (worth €9 billion, notably for the purchase of 20 Airbus planes) and many promises (civil nuclear cooperation and infrastructure projects) raised hopes for France and the business leaders who had joined the trip.

But before getting into his car to head to the presidential festivities, Macron gathered reporters to address the "crackpots," the "nutcases" and all those who have "caramel going to their heads." For hours, media outlets and social media had been consumed over the supposed "slap" Brigitte Macron had given her husband aboard the presidential plane, just before they set foot on Vietnamese soil. The scene, filmed by the Associated Press as the airplane door opened, showed the first lady putting both her hands on his face and pushing him away. The president stepped back, then tried, unsuccessfully, to take his wife's hand as they descended from the plane.

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