Republican President Donald Trump frequently brags about how respected the United States is under his leadership. But while some authoritarians seem to enjoy having Trump at the helm, reality is far different than the tune Trump sings.
During a speech at the French center-left political party Place Publique's congress in Paris on Sunday, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Raphael Glucksmann voiced his feelings on the Trump administration's actions since the January inauguration.
MEP Glucksmann stated before a cheering crowd:
"Give us back the Statue of Liberty."
The French moderate specified his reasons, saying:
"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. We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home."
His words come as an indictment of not only Trump and his entire administration, but the MAGA minions that continue to support him.
MEP Glucksmann continued, adding:
"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."
You can watch Glucksmann's remarks—in French—here:
The crowd's reaction doesn't indicate great respect—at least among French left-leaning moderates—for Donald Trump.
The response online—especially in international Reddit forums—was savagely unflattering to the Trump administration.
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Many commenters also threw the Trump administration's own words and actions back at them.
Clearly, people in other countries are unimpressed by Trump.
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But at least one American felt the symbol and what it has meant to the United States was more important than ever.
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But a rebuttal stated the betrayal of those values was exactly why the USA no longer deserves the Statue of Liberty.
The 151-foot tall copper statue depicting Lady Liberty has stood on a 154-foot pedestal on Liberty Island in New York harbor since its assembly was completed in 1886.
The tablet in the statue's left hand is inscribed "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI"—the date of the United States Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals.
Officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue designed by sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi was a gift from the people of France to the United States to commemorate "the alliance between the two nations during the American Revolution and to symbolize the shared ideals of freedom and democracy."
A brass plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty bears the 1883 poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus. The poem was used to raise funds to build the statue's pedestal.
One excerpt from The New Colossus has become forever associated with the statue that greeted the wave of immigrants—including Donald Trump's grandparents—during the late 19th and early 20th century.
It reads:
“Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
A central policy of the Trump administration has been to limit, detain, and deport immigrants—especially those considered part of the Great Replacement conspiracy theory—non-Whites and/or non-Christians.
In contrast, Trump signed an executive order inviting White South Africans to come to the United States as refugees fleeing "racist persecution."
With her oxidized copper complexion, perhaps the Statue of Liberty should seek asylum elsewhere as well.
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