Things haven’t really been “with liberty and justice for all” in the U.S. lately, to say the least. Donald’s Trump administration has launched a laundry list of constitutional crises over the last two months—so many, in fact, that one French politician doesn’t think we deserve the Statue of Liberty anymore.
“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,'” Glucksmann, a member of France’s center-left Place Publique party, said at a party convention on Sunday, according to Agence France-Presse. Honestly, fair.
Glucksmann is a big supporter of Ukraine—as is most of the world unless you’re Russia or the White House—so his comments are likely in response to the Trump administration’s decision to pause aid to the embattled country after Trump and JD Vance bullied President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it,” he continued. “So it will be just fine here at home.” The politician, whose own country has been fighting a wave of nationalism, also called out France’s far-right leaders for being a “fan club” of Trump and Elon Musk.
France gave the U.S. Lady Liberty, technically named “Liberté éclairant le monde: Liberty Enlightening the World,” as a gift of friendship and also to commemorate 100 years of American independence. It was unveiled in New York in 1886. I’m sure Trump will hold a parade and ship it back to France by the end of 2025, all while declaring she was a nasty and terrible woman.
Glucksmann also addressed the administration’s deep cuts to science, which Bloomberg recently reported has “thrown the research world into chaos.”
“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,” he said.
Need to know if that invitation also extends to journalists…?
