Latest news with #Glucksmann
USA Today
06-04-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
'Dark undertone': For some overseas, Trump policies put a dent in Lady Liberty's promise
'Dark undertone': For some overseas, Trump policies put a dent in Lady Liberty's promise Show Caption Hide Caption French politician wants Statue of Liberty back, White House says no White House said it would not return the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France, after a French politician asked for it back. It was partly a joke. Sarcastic, mocking, not without irony. As the crowd cheered him on, Raphaël Glucksmann said the U.S. should give France its statue back. "We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home," Glucksmann, a 45-year-old co-president of a small left-wing party in France, said with a big smile on his face to applause and whistles at a political rally in mid-March. Glucksmann was referring to the Statue of Liberty, given to the U.S. by France as an emblem of friendship in 1884. The statue was the brainchild of an anti-slavery activist. It is recognized as a symbol of welcome, freedom and democracy. President Donald Trump has dramatically shifted the U.S.'s foreign and domestic policy. Tourists are detained at the border and college students taken and held in detention centers. Sweeping tariffs on trading partners. Threats to annex allies, casting doubts on the NATO security alliance and U.S. support for Ukraine against Russia. Glucksmann was suggesting the U.S. no longer lives up to the values the gift represents. "From Europe, what we are seeing is not only that Trump is dumping us and dumping Ukraine," Glucksmann said in an interview with USA TODAY. "But that there is a total change of alliance." For some people overseas, Trump has dented Lady Liberty's promise. Almost three months into Trump's second term, his administration has introduced a flood of new policies and rhetoric it says will make the U.S. safer, more competitive, and richer, and help it preserve American culture and values. But these changes have caused some foreign travelers, students, academics, business leaders and lawmakers to question whether the America they knew and admired has lost some of its shine. 'President Trump is Making America Great Again. He is fulfilling his promise to eliminate the radical left-wing ideology that has poisoned our nation over the last four years," said National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes. "We do not pay attention to the opinions of backbenchers from foreign countries," he said, referring to Glucksmann. A drop in travel to the U.S. Still, the anxiety this is fueling is already showing up in projected foreign traveler arrivals for the U.S. for 2025. They are expected to decline by 5.1% compared to last year, and against a previously projected increase of 8.8%, according to a recent report by Tourism Economics, a global travel consultancy. What's more, according to YouGov, a U.K.-based digital research firm, favorable attitudes toward the U.S. have slumped in Western Europe since Trump's election. More than half of people in Britain (53%), Germany (56%), Sweden (63%) and Denmark (74%) now have a poor opinion of the U.S. That's the lowest percentages since 2016, when Trump took office for the first time. Among the reasons cited by those surveyed: Trump's tariffs, his vow to seize Greenland, and his willingness to negotiate with Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, including a highly public Oval Office spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that looked to some like bullying a world leader who has spent the last three years watching tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians be killed by Russia, the war's aggressor. Red alert? Trump challenged as Dems win Wisconsin, Republican margins sag in Florida In love with the U.S. One of the new doubters is Sheldon Miller. He is the founder of an English startup that buys pre-owned products and refurbishes them before selling them on the Internet. Miller describes himself as an enthusiastic and regular visitor to the U.S. He has visited over half of the U.S. states. He even proposed to his wife on New York's Brooklyn Bridge. Miller is not a public figure or expert in foreign policy or U.S. domestic affairs. But he is a big fan of the U.S. He has long been captivated by its culture, from its politics to its movies. For years he's experienced the country as a "warm and friendly" place where, unlike his native England, he says, "you can strike up a conversation with anyone." He relishes its "can-do attitude." He doesn't necessarily think all of that has changed under Trump. Yet observing from afar how the Trump administration has aggressively cracked down on immigration, detained tourists and alienated European allies while praising adversaries like Russian President Vladimir Putin, now Miller says he isn't so sure what to make of the U.S. He has also put on hold an ambition to relocate his family there. "I absolutely love the U.S.," Miller, 50, said, in a phone interview. "It just seems there's such a dark undertone to it now," he added, citing examples of U.S. border officials who in recent weeks have targeted legal immigrants who expressed views the government believes threaten national security and undermine foreign policy. Mahmoud Khalil: Judge denies Trump administration's bid to move his case to Louisiana U.S. officials have justified expelling Venezuelans to a notorious prison in El Salvador because of their tattoos. Others have faced harsh consequences for what appear to some people to involve minor visa infractions or mix-ups. Rebecca Burke, 28, a graphic artist from Wales, was on a four-month backpacking trip around North America when she was detained by ICE and held for 10 days after trying to enter the country via the Canadian border. Burke had previously stayed with a host family in Portland, Oregon, where she carried out chores in exchange for lodging. For part of Burke's detention she was moved around in chains, her family said. Two German tourists, Jessica Brösche, 29, and Lucas Sielaff, 25, were held for 46 days and 16 days, respectively, after being stopped by immigration authorities, separately, at the San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. German media reported that Sielaff was denied a translator and didn't always understand what was happening to him. Brösche, a tattoo artist from Berlin, was kept in solitary confinement for nine days. Both were subjected to aggressive interrogation and later deported back to Germany. Both remain unsure why they were held. She did chores for a host family: then ended up in US immigration detention Countries update their U.S. travel advisories In one case that took place on March 9, a French scientist who was traveling to Houston for a conference was denied entry to the country after immigration officers searched his phone. They found messages in which he, according to the French government, had expressed criticism of the Trump administration. Philippe Baptiste, the French minister for higher education, said the scientist, who has not been publicly identified and who specializes in research about outer space, was expressing a "personal opinion" in those messages on his phone and that the case amounted to a violation of academic freedom. The Department of Homeland Security rejected that characterization, saying the French researcher possessed confidential information on his phone from New Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory, in violation of a nondisclosure agreement. Denied: What happens if you barred from entry to the U.S. Whatever the case, a growing number of incidents has led Canada and multiple European countries including France, Germany, Norway and the U.K. to update their travel advisories for the U.S. They cite tightened border policies or specific Trump executive orders, such as one about gender recognition that risks some travelers running afoul of new rules that require male or female to be marked on passports. Staying away from the United States? In recent days, at least two German lawmakers have told their nation's media that they aren't sure whether the U.S. can still be trusted to hold its gold reserves. Germany has the world's second-largest cache of gold reserves. It keeps about a third of them − some 1,300 tons − in the vaults of the New York Federal Reserve. How much of this unease can be directly attributed to Trump 2.0 is hard to say. But not in every case. "I've been to the U.S. about a dozen times, but have no interest in visiting again until Trump is gone. And that's not a boycott: I'm actually quite afraid to go," Gordon Ingram, a Vietnam-based academic, wrote in a post on X in late March. "My wife and daughter are going to Florida next month and I'm pretty worried about what might happen." In a separate post, a Danish writer said he knew of many of his fellow citizens who were cancelling their U.S. vacations. Thinking twice about whether he really needs to travel to conferences in the U.S. Andris Banka is one of those whose confidence in the U.S. has been shaken. Banka is a Latvian-born professor of international politics at the University of Greifswald in Germany. He said that after the incident with the French space researcher whose phone was used to prevent him from U.S. entry he is "thinking twice" about whether he really needs to travel to the U.S. for conferences. Banka has also observed a growing chorus of voices in his professional network who are reflecting more deeply on this question as well. He said that, as an eastern European who grew up in the shadow of Russia's authoritarian state, he has found it puzzling to watch the Trump administration defund or tear down "soft power" programs like USAID and media outlets like Radio Free Europe that for the most part spread "knowledge" and "goodwill." USAID cuts fallout: Wasted food, 'free-for-all' ISIS camps, less HIV prevention Glucksmann, the French lawmaker who made the quip about the Statue of Liberty, was less constrained. "We are all shocked by the behavior of this U.S. administration," he said in a phone interview. He added: "It's clear he feels closer to Putin than he does to Zelenskyy." Glucksmann said that he can't claim to speak for all of his compatriots or Europeans more widely, but he believes that there is a "strong sense of betrayal" by Trump in Europe and "that everything that the U.S. has stood for, for decades and decades and even centuries, has been spit in our face." He said that his comments about France taking back the Statue of Liberty were never intended to be understood literally. Instead, they were meant to be a "wake-up call," for Europeans and others, aimed at articulating the belief that the "American administration does not appear interested in leading the free world any longer." Immigration, border security and 'American values' The White House has broadly rejected this logic, saying it simply wants Europe to finance its own security needs. And British lawmaker Nigel Farage, a close Trump ally known for his anti-immigration views and for championing Britain's exit from the European Union, said in a phone interview that he thinks Trump's various policy moves and talk, whether on immigration or NATO, simply reflect an attempt to "honor the U.S. Constitution." He said Glucksmann's arguments about American values not being respected by Trump were false. "I don't think allowing illegal immigration through the southern border is in accord with American values." Glucksmann's claim about the Statue of Liberty didn't go unnoticed by the White House. "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," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when asked about Glucksmann's remarks in mid-March. Trump administration: other countries should be 'very grateful' Leavitt appeared to be referencing when the U.S. fought alongside France and others with Allied powers during World War II to free Europe from Nazi occupation, as well as its fight alongside France during World War I. "They should be very grateful," she added. France, Leavitt made clear, was not getting its statue back no matter what. Yet even if it did, for some the picture of America has already changed. "We used to say that 'the path to heaven runs through America,'" said Bijaya Khadka, who emigrated to the U.S. from Nepal when he was 17. Khadka arrived in the U.S. after living in a refugee camp there. His family are from Bhutan, a tiny Buddhist kingdom on the eastern edge of the Himalayas, from where they were expelled in the 1990s because of a conflict over ethnicity and politics, sparked by resurgent Bhutanese nationalists. 'Land of the Thunder Dragon': It may end up on Trump travel ban list Khadka, now 30 and a naturalized U.S. citizen, works with refugees and asylum seekers in Rochester, N.Y. "Now everything is different," he said. "America used to fight for human rights. Now the people I work with feel their freedom is being taken away. They don't feel they can openly express themselves. They are scared to go outside because they worry they will be detained, jailed and deported." Twelve members of the Bhutanese community in his area already have, Khadka said. Trump travel ban: indefinitely delayed as U.S. continues to revoke visas Measuring American democracy Staffan Lindberg is the director of the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg, a unit that analyzes political frameworks all over the world and produces highly regarded reports that chart democracy's global trajectory. In its latest report, published in early March, V-Dem concluded that U.S. democracy under Trump "took a beating in his first term" when measured by the average level of democracy enjoyed by the average U.S. citizen. V-Dem assesses democracies by assessing quality of elections, individual rights, freed of expression, and in terms of checks and balances on executive officer power by lawmakers and the courts. American democracy was effectively brought back to 1976-levels during Trump's first term using these gauges, according to V-Dem's methodology. The global average for the average level of democracy enjoyed by a notional world citizen during this time, according to the V-Dem report, was a 1985-level; by country averages, it was at a 1996-level. Today, the V-Dem report said, U.S. democracy "is being attacked a lot more than before." Republicans in Congress: GOP lawmakers move to restrict federal judges who have blocked Trump No problems at the U.S. border, but a feeling of disquiet Lindberg had his own personal cautionary tale to share. He had recently returned from Washington, D.C., where he gave a series of presentations about democratic backsliding that included slides about the U.S. Lindberg has been studying democracy for decades. He has given lectures and talks in Russia and Turkey and other places widely considered to have authoritarian governments. 'Justice will be served': Hundreds of thousands protest in Turkey over jailing of Erdogan rival Lindberg said that prior to traveling to the U.S., he read up on his rights at the border by visiting the American Civil Liberties Union website. He shut off his computer and phone and put the latter in his pocket, so it was on his body, a tactic that may not prevent border authorities from reading its contents but could offer a measure of legal protection. He said he was prepared to be "turned away" at the border or heckled at one of his presentations. He wasn't. No one stopped him. No one complained about his research. The trip came and went. But Lindberg still left the U.S. feeling "shocked." On several occasions he met up with colleagues and friends − fellow academics he'd "known for years" − in coffee shops, hotel lounges and other places around Washington. They were Americans, some born there, others not. Senior professors with tenure. Others who had served in the U.S. military in wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere. "Many, not all, but many felt fear about openly expressing themselves in public," he said. He said they were worried someone might be recording their conversations or listening in somehow because they weren't saying that could be viewed as critical of the Trump administration. "It was very palpable," Lindberg said. He noted that the next large gathering of the American Political Science Association, a professional body, was due to take place in Canada. Lindberg said that many people he spoke to were feeling grateful about that.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
French sculptors pledge to build titanium Statue of Liberty – and Elon Musk approves
France's self-professed last sculpture foundry has weighed into a row over whether the US should return the Statue of Liberty to its country of origin by proposing to build a new one out of titanium. The proposal by Nice-based Atelier Missor, which specialises in sculpting famed French figures such as Napoleon and Joan of Arc, received approval from Elon Musk, who called the idea 'cool' on X. The foundry's plan to build a new Statue of Liberty 'to withstand millions of years' followed a call by French centre-Left MEP Raphael Glucksmann for America to return the original. During a political rally of his Place Publique movement, Mr Glucksmann launched a blistering attack on the Trump administration in which he said: '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.'' Mr Glucksmann is a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and a staunch supporter of Ukraine. France gave the statue, which stands 305 feet tall and weighs 450,000lbs, to the US as a gift on July 4, 1884, to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The iconic copper-clad sculpture was created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbour. 'We gave it to you as a gift,' Mr Glucksmann went on, citing the United States' founding values of freedom and liberty. 'But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.' He concluded his remarks by stating France would welcome top researchers who were fired in the cuts to the US National Institutes of Health and similar organisations. His comments prompted a fiery rebuke from Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, who said: '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. 'So they should be very grateful to our great country.' French commentators pointed out that if it weren't for French military and financial support during the War of Independence, America would likely still be a 'British colony' today. Mr Glucksmann later fired back: 'No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.' Wading into the row, Atelier Missor wrote: 'To our fellow Americans: we are the last sculpture foundry in France and we have a message for you.' 'Keep the Statue of Liberty; it's rightfully yours. But get ready for another one. 'A New Statue of Liberty, much bigger, made out of titanium to withstand millions of years. 'We, the French people, are going to make it again!' The foundry, which said its aim was to fulfil Napoleon's dream to 'make Paris the capital of the universe', was recently commissioned to build a monument statue of Joan of Arc for the French Riviera city of Nice. However, in January, the local state prefect cancelled the €170,000 contract and ordered the 4.5-ton golden bronze statue to be taken down, saying Nice's Right-wing town hall had failed to respect the proper public tender process. Atelier Missor said the annulment had left it on the verge of bankruptcy. A crowdfunding campaign to pay for the statue launched by Nice former deputy mayor in charge of culture has gathered €50,000. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
French sculptors pledge to build titanium Statue of Liberty – and Elon Musk approves
France's self-professed last sculpture foundry has weighed into a row over whether the US should return the Statue of Liberty to its country of origin by proposing to build a new one out of titanium. The proposal by Nice-based Atelier Missor, which specialises in sculpting famed French figures such as Napoleon and Joan of Arc, received approval from Elon Musk, who called the idea 'cool' on X. The foundry's plan to build a new Statue of Liberty 'to withstand millions of years' followed a call by French centre-Left MEP Raphael Glucksmann for America to return the original. During a political rally of his Place Publique movement, Mr Glucksmann launched a blistering attack on the Trump administration in which he said: '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.'' Mr Glucksmann is a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and a staunch supporter of Ukraine. France gifted the statue, which stands 305 feet tall and weighs 450,000lbs, to the US on July 4, 1884, to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The iconic copper-clad sculpture was created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbour. 'We gave it to you as a gift,' Mr Glucksmann went on, citing the United States' founding values of freedom and liberty. 'But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.' He concluded his remarks by stating France would welcome top researchers who were fired in the cuts to the US National Institutes of Health and similar organisations. His comments prompted a fiery rebuke from Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, who said: '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. 'So they should be very grateful to our great country.' French commentators pointed out that if it weren't for French military and financial support during the War of Independence, America would likely still be a 'British colony' today. Mr Glucksmann later fired back: 'No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.' 'Withstand millions of years' Wading into the row, Atelier Missor wrote: 'To our fellow Americans: we are the last sculpture foundry in France and we have a message for you.' 'Keep the Statue of Liberty; it's rightfully yours. But get ready for another one. 'A New Statue of Liberty, much bigger, made out of titanium to withstand millions of years. 'We, the French people, are going to make it again!' The foundry, which said its aim was to fulfil Napoleon's dream to 'make Paris the capital of the universe', was recently commissioned to build a monument statue of Joan of Arc for the French Riviera city of Nice. However, in January, the local state prefect cancelled the €170,000 contract and ordered the 4.5-ton golden bronze statue to be taken down, saying Nice's Right-wing town hall had failed to respect the proper public tender process. Atelier Missor said the annulment had left it on the verge of bankruptcy. A crowdfunding campaign to pay for the statue launched by Nice former deputy mayor in charge of culture has gathered €50,000.
Egypt Independent
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
French politician suggests US should give back Statue of Liberty for taking ‘the side of the tyrants'
CNN — A French politician has called on the US to give the Statue of Liberty back after suggesting that some Americans 'have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants.' Raphael Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament who represents the small left-wing party Place Publique, made the comments at a rally on Sunday. 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty,' said Glucksmann. 'It was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her.' The Statue of Liberty as it is seen today in New York City. Pamela Smith/AP The statue was a gift of friendship to America from France. Inaugurated in 1886, it represents Libertas, the Roman liberty goddess, bearing a torch in her right hand and a tablet in her left hand with the date of the US Declaration of Independence. Broken shackles lie underneath the statue's drapery, to symbolize the end of all types of servitude and oppression. On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt fired back at Glucksmann. '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, so they should be very grateful to our great country,' she said. A photo showing the left hand of the Statue of Liberty under then responded in a series of posts on X and Instagram. He emphasized that his gratitude to the US 'heroes' that fought against the Nazis in WWII is 'eternal,' before making a contrast with US President Donald Trump's recent attempts to negotiate a settlement between Russia and Ukraine, as well as Trump's public spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. 'The America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin. It helped the resistance and didn't attack Zelensky,' he wrote. 'It is precisely because I am petrified by Trumps (sic) betrayal that I said yesterday in a rally that we could symbolically take back the Statue of Liberty if your government despised everything it symbolizes in your eyes, ours, and those of the world,' said Glucksmann. 'No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone,' he said. 'And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.' Glucksmann is co-president of the Place Publique party, which currently holds three seats in the European Parliament, as well as one in the French parliament and another in the country's senate. Despite his party's small size, Glucksmann has received an increasing amount of attention in the French media, including an in-depth interview in political magazine Le Nouvel Obs published March 5, in which he underlined the importance that European powers step up their defense spending amid a reorienting of US policy priorities. It has also been rumored that Glucksmann is planning to run for president in elections scheduled for early 2027.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Apparently you despise her': French official demands US give back Statue of Liberty after 140 years
A French politician is requesting the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty in the wake of President Donald Trump's policies that appear to side with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament, made the remarks at a convention of the Place Publique center-left movement Sunday. "Give us back the Statue of Liberty," said Glucksmann, according to Agence France-Presse. "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.'' France gifted the statue, which stands at 305 feet tall and weighs 450,000 lbs, to the U.S. on July 4, 1884, to commemorate the 108th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The sculpture, created by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, currently sits on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. There is a replica of the statue in the Seine river in Paris. The U.S. likely would not have won the Revolutionary War had it not been for financial backing from the European nation. The U.S. did not return the favor when the French Revolution began in 1789. Glucksmann, a member of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine. Since his inauguration, President Donald Trump has berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office and suggested Ukraine started the war even though Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Zelensky was ultimately asked to leave the White House last month following the meeting. "We gave it to you as a gift,' Glucksmann continued, citing the United States' founding values of freedom and liberty. 'But apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home.' During a White House briefing Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. would 'absolutely not' send the statue back to France. '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. So they should be very grateful,' added Leavitt, pointing to U.S. military assistance during World War II after Nazi Germany seized France. Glucksmann concluded his remarks by stating France would welcome top researchers who had been fired in the cuts to the National Institutes of Health and similar organizations. "The second thing we're going to say to the Americans is: 'If you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world's leading power, then we're going to welcome them.''
