Two feral pigs in a pod

French President Emmanuel Macron issued a fiery response to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for social media comments that appeared to mock the appearance of French first lady Brigitte Macron.

“For him to have made incredibly disrespectful comments about my spouse — what can I say to you?” Macron said at a news conference Monday when asked about Bolsonaro’s remarks. “It is sad. It is sad. But it is sad first of all for him and the Brazilian people.”

The French president’s remarks came on the final day of the annual meeting of the Group of Seven leaders in Biarritz, France, where the subject of raging fires in the Amazon had led to criticism of the Brazilian government and a pledge by world leaders to start a $20 million fund to help protect the rainforest.

Bolsonaro, once a fringe politician who came to power in elections last year after appealing to nationalist sentiment, has called the international criticism of his government by European nations a reflection of a “colonialist mentality."

But the Brazilian president pushed the political dispute into personal territory Sunday, when he appeared to endorse a meme from a supporter that compared the appearance of the French first lady, 67, with Brazil’s first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, 37.

On Saturday, a supporter of the Brazilian president posted a photograph of the two world leaders and their wives on Bolsonaro’s official Facebook page, with a comment that suggested Macron was jealous of Bolsonaro.

In response, Bolsonaro responded with laughter and wrote: “Do not embarrass the guy.”

Speaking on Monday, Macron said: “So, I myself believe Brazilian women are probably ashamed to read that from their president. I believe the Brazilian people, which is a great people, are a bit ashamed of those kind of behaviors.

“I have a lot of friendship and respect for the Brazilian people, I hope they will very soon have a president that acts like one.”

Michelle Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president’s third wife and his former parliamentary secretary, is 27 years younger than her husband, who is 64. The age differences are roughly reversed in the French president’s relationship, where 41-year-old Emmanuel Macron is 24 years younger than his wife, his former teacher, Brigitte.

Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo, a member of parliament who has been touted as a potential Brazilian ambassador to the United States, also took aim at the French president in recent days, sharing a video on Twitter last Thursday that called Macron an idiot and writing on Sunday that the French president was desperate for popularity.