Baker Swan Funeral Home

THE BIG IDEA: Get ready for Macron-mania.Donald Trump was the first president since Calvin Coolidge, a century ago, not to welcome a foreign leader for a state visit during his first year in office.Fifteen months into his presidency, Trump is finally rolling out the red carpet for French President Emmanuel Macron. The country’s tricolor flag is flying all over downtown, and three days of events are planned in the capital city.After Macron lands this afternoon, the presidents and their wives will take a helicopter to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, for a sunset dinner on the terrace overlooking the Potomac.Trump and Macron will meet one-on-one tomorrow morning in the Oval Office. Vice President Pence will host a lunch for Macron at the State Department, and he will tour Arlington National Cemetery.The state dinner is Tuesday evening. “In a break with tradition, Trump invited no Democratic members of Congress or journalists,” the AP reports. “Approximately 150 guests will take their seats in the State Dining Room on Tuesday, making for a more intimate affair than those held by President Barack Obama. Obama’s guest lists numbered into the hundreds, requiring that the event be held in a tented pavilion erected on the South Lawn because no room in the White House can accommodate that many people.” (Paul Ryan will be there. Mitch McConnell got invited but sent his regrets.)On Wednesday, Macron will address both chambers of Congress — coinciding with the 58th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s 1960 speech to a joint session. He’ll speak in English. Then he’ll hold a town-hall-style meeting with students at George Washington University.Trump is going all out on pomp and circumstance because of how much fun he had in Paris last July, when Macron invited him to watch the annual Bastille Day parade. That trip inspired the president to order the Pentagon to plan a military parade through the streets of Washington. Macron also took Trump to the top of the Eiffel Tower for dinner and gave him a tour of Napoleon’s tomb during his brief jaunt to the City of Lig... (Washington Post)