It is clearly time to follow Bette’s advice (and appreciate a bit of early Marilyn). The international and domestic reaction to Trump’s second presidency is now very clear. Celia pointed out to me the Senator of the French Parliament, Claude Malhuret’s speech to the Parliament on Tuesday the 4th March 2025 as an instance in point. M. Malhuret is now leader of Les Indépendants – République et Territoires, LIRT, party in the Senate and appears to have a far greater knowledge of the Constitution of the United States and its implications than does Donald Trump. Herewith his opening salvo (Translation of transcript):
“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor…”
And he goes on at some length. Would that more European politicians made similar up front condemnation of what is happening in the United States. It is not just a mater of stepping up militarily but strenuously distancing oneself, politically and morally, from the Trump Administration's view of the world and what it purports to claim as the will of the American people.
Numerous views have been expressed in a number of Newspaper Editorials and by columnists' opinion pieces which describe and excoriate the gangsterism and rank stupidity of Mr Trump and his acolytes. As shocking as the now infamous display by Messrs Trump and Vance of their bullying of President Zelensky appeared to be, it was not at all surprising. It was however enraging and prompted a general worldwide revulsion of the United States’ heads of state. The so called free press in attendance did nothing to redeem itself either, with its ludicrous notions of sartorial respect.
“President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor…”
And he goes on at some length. Would that more European politicians made similar up front condemnation of what is happening in the United States. It is not just a mater of stepping up militarily but strenuously distancing oneself, politically and morally, from the Trump Administration's view of the world and what it purports to claim as the will of the American people.
Numerous views have been expressed in a number of Newspaper Editorials and by columnists' opinion pieces which describe and excoriate the gangsterism and rank stupidity of Mr Trump and his acolytes. As shocking as the now infamous display by Messrs Trump and Vance of their bullying of President Zelensky appeared to be, it was not at all surprising. It was however enraging and prompted a general worldwide revulsion of the United States’ heads of state. The so called free press in attendance did nothing to redeem itself either, with its ludicrous notions of sartorial respect.
This is not normal. Far from it. The chaos being engendered throughout the world is significant. It is similar to the analogy of the butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon thereby creating a hurricane in the Atlantic, except Trump is a deadly moth fluttering in the glow of the Office of President of the United States which he should never have been allowed to enter.
But we have what we have, and so fasten your seat belts, That so many are having to suffer increased injury and death as result of these machinations is catastrophic. One has to accept the stoicism of the character of Clemenza in the Godfather movie, he of the “leave the gun - take the cannoli” line.
What is it about movies and screenplays that somehow, now and again, strikes a cord? Oddly, over the years the cinema has portrayed a variety of political stories with heroes and villains galore. Corruption has been at the heart of many salutary lessons of American political drama. All The King’s Men, Mr Smith Goes To Washington, Advise and Consent, The Front Page, State of the Union, Manchurian Candidate and many others around the world. Indeed, stories of corruption and political chicanery, both real and fictional, have been portrayed in the cinema since its inception by the Lumière brothers in 1895. Unfortunately, even before that event, history reveals that political corruption was rife in ancient Rome and Greece, so why has the lesson never been learnt? How long are we destined to exist in this ceaseless insanity? Will we ever hear the end of the protest song?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhkZMxgPxXU
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