France criticizes Trump admin’s lack of democracy.

On March 16, European Parliament member Raphaël Glücksmann gained considerable attention on the internet for denouncing the Trump administration, particularly for suggesting that the U.S. no longer deserves the Statue of Liberty. 

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty,’” Glücksmann said before a cheering crowd at a convention for France’s center-left Party Publique—a party that he co-founded. “We gave it to you as a gift,” he added. “But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.”

Though a literal return of the Statue of Liberty to Europe would not be feasible, the White House spurned the comments. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt belittled and derided Glücksmann as a “low-level French politician,” which is not factually correct, as he emerged as one of France’s major left-wing politicians following Emmanuel Macron’s political drop in popularity. 

“My advice to that unnamed, low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now,” Leavitt said. “So they should be very grateful to our great country.”

Glücksmann proceeded to reiterate his comments on X posts, explaining that he was “eternally” grateful for the U.S.’s role in liberating France from Nazi Germany in World War II. Furthermore, he said he did not mean that France would literally take the Statue of Liberty, but rather what it represents. 

“If the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe,” he said. 

The Statue of Liberty was first designed and promoted by anti-slavery activist Edouard de Laboulaye and sculptor Auguste Bartholdi in the late 1860s. The statue was supposed to represent “Liberty enlightening the world.” By July 4, 1884, they presented it to the U.S. minister in France to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and the friendship between the two nations. It was then shipped across the Atlantic and constructed over the course of two years, and was finally completed on October 28, 1886.  

While the statue will remain in New York, Glücksmann’s criticism of the Trump administration shows a growing European concern regarding the deterioration of democracy in the United States.

Article by Daniel Harms