[Politics] Should the United States give back the Statue of Liberty?

[Albion my Albion]

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Donald Trump ordered to return the Statue of Liberty after mass-sackings​

140 years after the famous green lady was given to America from France, a lawmaker has suggested it’s time the US gives it back.

MEP Raphaël Glucksmann 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.”

‘We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be just fine here at home,’ he added.

Glucksmann went on to suggest that France would welcome the government researchers and employees who were fired en masse under the new administration.

Glucksmann

 

[Anger]

Yes

 

[Simster]

What would France need a second one for?

 

[schmunk]

What would France need a second one for?

 

[Man of Harveys]

What would France need a second one for?

Or a third one as it has at least two already: one in Paris by the Seine, another in the middle of a roundabout in Colmar where its sculptor Bartholdi came from.

 

[sparkie]

No, of course not.

But I do wonder if the "land of the brave" will have to be... brave soon.

 

[Albion my Albion]

Of course Trump would be glad to return the Statue of Liberty but he would have France pay for the statue being shipped overseas. You know how well he does at getting other countries to pay for things.

 

[John Byrnes Mullet]

Maybe the French could return some paintings and statues to Italy.

 

[bhafc99]

Trump's probably already planning to exchange it for a statue of himself, so this maybe makes more sense than you'd initially think.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Maybe the French could return some paintings and statues to Italy.

And Egypt, and Greece etc etc

However, I like the point this MEP is making.

And the reply from the White House Spokesperson? As explained by Fox, "Karoline Leavitt [that towering intellect and historian] reminded Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, that he would be speaking German if it weren't for American troops".

I added the square brackets. If you haven't seen Karoline's astonishing beauty pageant reply about Americans and geography, it's worth a look:

 

[Brovion]

No. I think Winston Churchill once said "One can always rely on America to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else." For all its faults its heart was usually in the right place and that's simply not the case now

So leave it there as a symbol of what America used to be, maybe they'll think about it and it'll shame them into being 'America' again. However they should remove or cover up the Emma Lazarus poem ("Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore") as it's now just a sick joke.

 

[Simster]

Maybe it will just remain, but as a symbol of the fragility of democracy.

Hitler was elected of course. That is obviously the worst example of how an ignorant populist can rise to power. But I'd say what's happened in America (and what happened here when Boris Johnson became PM) are examples of how people in authority failed to do the right thing by ensuring these people were not given a platform in the first place. The Tories didn't think of the country when they allowed a lazy liar to head their party. Similarly, the GOP were not thinking of their own people by allowing a convicted felon and democratic subversive to run for president.

There are lots of simpletons in an electorate, and they don't know Trump, Johnson etc personally. They will believe the rhetoric if they want to, regardless of truth.

 

[A1X]

Glucksmann went on to suggest that France would welcome the government researchers and employees who were fired en masse under the new administration.

Aha, Operation Paperclip in reverse

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

If you’ve ever tried to put back together flat pack furniture after an initial build you will know my concern, it’s never the same

 

[hart's shirt]

Hitler was elected of course. That is obviously the worst example of how an ignorant populist can rise to power. But I'd say what's happened in America (and what happened here when Boris Johnson became PM) are examples of how people in authority failed to do the right thing by ensuring these people were not given a platform in the first place. The Tories didn't think of the country when they allowed a lazy liar to head their party. Similarly, the GOP were not thinking of their own people by allowing a convicted felon and democratic subversive to run for president.

Quite so.

You've illustrated the clear difference between a political party choosing the short-term goal of a desire for power over the long-term welfare of the country.

It's electorally quicker to do the former even with inferior candidates. Charisma may enchant an electorate, but should never prevail over character.

A country's welfare is never a price worth paying for gaining or maintaining political office. The costs are always too high.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

And Egypt, and Greece etc etc

However, I like the point this MEP is making.

And the reply from the White House Spokesperson? As explained by Fox, "Karoline Leavitt [that towering intellect and historian] reminded Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, that he would be speaking German if it weren't for American troops".

I added the square brackets. If you haven't seen Karoline's astonishing beauty pageant reply about Americans and geography, it's worth a look:

 

[RandyWanger]

No.

 

[Stato]

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The country that has that mantra on it's doorstep elected these lunatics, knowing exactly what they were getting.

And we've always said that they don't get irony...

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

And Egypt, and Greece etc etc

However, I like the point this MEP is making.

And the reply from the White House Spokesperson? As explained by Fox, "Karoline Leavitt [that towering intellect and historian] reminded Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, that he would be speaking German if it weren't for American troops".

I added the square brackets. If you haven't seen Karoline's astonishing beauty pageant reply about Americans and geography, it's worth a look:

I saw her prezzer yesterday and was simply astonised how a White House Spokesperson could spout such drivel.

Fortunately the journo who questioned her proceeded to completely tear her apart, reminding her that if it wasn't for France, Independence wouldn't have happened and Americans would still be singing God Save The King.

 

[Stato]

The flaming torch still seems appropriate. The Tablet of Law, less so. Perhaps, they could cross out the date of the Declaration of Independence and instead carve 'You Will Not Replace Us!'

Oh and replace the verse with W.B. Yeats. Seems far more of the moment:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?