France's reaction to the U.S. election
This week I learned a new French saying: gueule de bois. It literally translates to ‘wood mouth’ but what it means is ‘hangover.’
I’m telling you this because I saw this phrase multiple times when scrolling through French reactions to the US election results.
I know, I know. By now you’ve read about this election ad nauseum, but considering that I write about France, I would be a fool not to tell you about this country’s reaction to Donald Trump’s election.
Note that this is only a tiny collection of reactions and I am by no means purporting to be an expert in ‘reporting’ this.
French and European Reaction
European leaders have no choice but to work with the US President-elect. He will be the most powerful leader in the world and could be very influential regarding the situation between Ukraine and Russia. During his campaign, Trump vowed to put a stop to the conflict, which makes the Europeans nervous because they don’t know what that would look like.
When it became clear that Trump was probably the winner of the election, French President Emmanuel Macron sent his congratulations. Of course, Macron was in office the last time Trump was president, so the two have already worked together. I’ll never forget when the French president paid a state visit to the Trump White House, and from the body language I could see that Macron was powerless over the US president.
“Emmanuel Macron congratulates Donald Trump ahead of the official results of the US election. The French president says he is ‘ready to work together as we were able to do for [the last] four years.” - Le Nouvel Obs newspaper via X
Meanwhile, Macron’s former Prime Minister (two PMs ago) Élisabeth Borne tweeted (below) that, now more than ever, Europe needs to be a united force. She uses the terms ‘stronger EU’ and ‘more sovereign.’
What exactly is Borne referring to?
Europe has a lot going on right now. Immigration remains a Huge Problem across the continent and then there’s the war in Ukraine, which has presented a new kind of challenge because it forces EU countries to strike a balance between supporting their neighbor and handling Russia.
There have been a lot of calls for European ‘unity’ following Trump’s election. In the past several years, European unity has been challenged as some member states are electing right-wing governments that have different ideologies than the traditional, historic (left or centric) European ones. For example, at one point, EU member Hungary’s far-right leader Viktor Orban has been a hold-out on European consensus to provide aid to Ukraine. It took a lot of wrangling before the EU could get Orban on board.
Then of course, the other challenge is the future of NATO.
NATO was formed during the Cold War as a trans-Atlantic security (read: defense) organization to counter the threat of the Soviet Union. Trump has threatened in the past to pull the US out of the organization, which is alarming to Europe. At the same time, he has a track record of saying that he has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin. This raises alarm bells for European leaders because whether it’s a US pullout or a relationship with Russia, it could seriously impact how the US-European alliance protects its member countries.
As a result, with Trump’s election, many experts and politicians have emphasized that Europe must become more autonomous with regard to defense and not rely so much on the US.
Aurore Lalucq is a French member of European Parliament who tweeted (below):
“We tremble at every American election because we have not finalized our independence in matters of defense in particular. We behave like an American member state… without the right to vote. This is no longer sustainable. Our independence comes through Europe.”
Support From Right-wing Europeans
Even though more left and centrist European leaders are on edge, they did sent their congratulations to Trump on Wednesday. They have to, regardless of how they feel. In the meantime, other leaders who share a similar ideology, like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Italy’s PM Georgia Meloni, are happy to see a shift in US leadership. Both of them are very hard-lined on immigration, just like Trump.
American ‘idiots’
And finally…
…the consensus I’ve seen online is that Americans are idiots for electing Trump. These are ordinary French people on X who have been watching the election closely.
Here’s a tweet that sums it up:
Translation: “The world's greatest idiocracy is about to elect the perfect combo of evangelical religiosity, White Supremacy, vomit-inducing kitsch, rapacious capitalism, triumphant ignorance, climate skepticism and sexism. Bravo, idiots.”
Before I leave you…
Yesterday, for the first time in a long time, two people separately told me — here in Paris — how much they like the US and Americans. One was a vendor lady at the local market’s butcher stand and the other was a newsstand guy. The newsstand guy asked me what I thought about Trump’s election? In typical French fashion, I shrugged, pursed my lips and said, ‘bah… voilà!’ What else can I say? But it’s nice to know that French public reaction, Americans are still appreciated (by some).
Thanks for the report from France. It’s good to know the reactions.