But perhaps they shouldn’t be. After Brexit, the concerns of those fearful of the future have been put on the forefront of many minds. We see trends like this in several countries. The French extreme right is gaining in popularity. Radio analysts in France are calling America “just another country like any other” now. “They have lost their integrity as a world leader.” A lady I sat beside this afternoon at the city hall told me she woke up with dread and is frightened by what she still cannot believe happened.
I am personally devastated. Not because I thought Hillary was the perfect candidate, or because she was the embodiment of everything I hold dear. But because she has a demonstrated public service history, experience in international affairs and a predicable sense of duty.
In 2008, my mom and I became Canadian citizens. We hold two passports. I have always been particularly proud of my birth place. Today, for the first time in my life, I am embarrassed of being American.
I woke to dozens of emails from students, friends, family members – all French – with messages of condolence, words of shock and concern. Will the extreme right take the ticket in May here in France? What does this mean for international stability? We have a completely inexperienced person with his thumb on the most powerful army in the world. Who is now the superpower? After all, America has lost its moral role as leader, they say.
I completely sympathize with the concerns of those who worry about the overextension of globalization, about immigration, about jobs, about security. The head of the International Monetary Fund, French woman Christine Lagarde, recently said that governments need to throw their support toward responsible globalization. She’s right.
My answer to all these problems, however, isn’t Donald Trump. But I can see why it was for many of my fellow Americans. Anything but the status quo. It was more a choice among non-options than a real choice at all.
In 1848, the famous French author Gustave Flaubert wrote in his Sentimental Education of an uneducated working class man taking the throne after King Louis Philippe. There’s a scene where this new king stands on the throne half drunk from wine and power. He takes the scepter in his hand and waves it around like the baseball bat of a home run hitter. A total lack of reverence and respect. Flaubert warned in this part of his expansive tome about the danger of the unexperienced, unprepared taking power. Almost two hundred years later we see the embodiment of that concern.
We don’t have a perfect system. Democracy can be dangerous. Nothing truer could be said. Our Founding Fathers warned us of as much, something I teach in my Constitutional Law class. But the truth is that in the eyes of the world, America isn’t the greatest country anymore. And I can’t quite see how someone like Trump could bring us back there, especially not in the eyes of the rest of the world. This morning my mom sent me this excellent article explaining a similar view.
Yesterday’s decision seems a little closer to the Populism of the 1930s in European than a rebirth of America the Great… After a financial crisis (1929), certain European populations were angry and worried. They elected people who were incompetent but who flattered their sense of a return to national greatness. The rest is one of the worst stories of our collective history.
Trump is a business man, not a maniac (I hope). More or less good at making deals (multiple bankruptcies doesn’t bode well in my book). And he has shown that he does what is good for him. Luckily we have a written constitution in America. The best I can hope for is he’ll do very little – make way for even more money making once this fetish with political power has ended. Perhaps then we can go back to being proud of the station that was once – and was internationally under Obama – the most distinguished and respected position in the world.
France, in mass numbers, mourn Obama today. As so do I.
Becoming Madame 
What garbage you speak. Such gibberish.
I am so glad Trump won, we are sick of the Democratic Party corruption. Hilary as President would be our worst nightmare.
I woke up happy for our country’s future for the first time in eight years. America was already a joke in the world thanks to our corrupt officials.
Its time to take America back to the people!
A year from now you’ll all be saying you were for Trump all along.
More than half of America woke up to happiness.
Thank God!
>>> Becoming Madame 11/9/2016 9:27 AM >>>
Becoming Madame posted: “But perhaps they shouldn’t be. After Brexit, the concerns of those fearful of the future have been put on the forefront of many minds. We see trends like this in several countries. The French extreme right is gaining in popularity. Radio analysts in Franc”
I wouldn’t say it is garbage I speak… just perhaps not your opinion.
But the way, I would never say I was for Trump all along. I was not and am not. But now that we are in this, I do hope he will do his best for all Americans.
OMG !!! Do you realize that over half of our wonderful country is elated that we have defeated that woman who has absolutely NO morals or integrity ? As a French teacher in the US, I would think that after what my beloved France has been through the past 20 years, you of all people would understand. We, unlike France, are SAVING ourselves !!!!!
Whenever a new president was elected, whether he voted for him or not, my dad always said to me “I hope he is the best president we have ever elected”. That is my hope today with the election of Donald Trump. The citizens of the United States have elected him, I believe, based on a hope for lower taxes, greater national security, and more jobs. Over the last eight years, I feel personally less safe in this world, my taxes have risen, my health insurance has almost tripled and is now $1600.00 per month for less coverage than I used to have. I cannot afford it. I feel that the racial divide has grown over the last eight years, not shrunk. I see many college graduates who cannot find a job in their chosen fields, moving home with mom and dad, unable to afford living on their own. I see increased heroin use and opiates on a massive level in my country. I live in the Washington DC area. I am a college educated woman. I am a feminist. I hope that Mr. Trump will be a voice for all people, help people help themselves and not rely on the federal government to provide for them. I hope he can act presidential, and be the best president we have ever had. Now that he is elected shouldn’t every American support him?
Well said, and with respect, thank you.
Ro
I love Paris and have traveled to Paris several times, most recently in Sept. At that time, I was a proud American with President Obama at the helm. Now, not so proud. In fact, I am embarrassed, terribly saddened and quite frankly extremely frightened for America’s future. I truly see this as the beginning of a sharp decline for our country. I hope I am wrong and Trump proves me inaccurate. I can’t understand how so many Americans can get pass the smut talk and belittling and degradation of so many of its citizens. I truly thought Americans would stand up against this and show intolerance for such behavior. Good over evil I believed would prevail. A woman posted on Facebook, “Proud to be an American”. Really?! I feel like, “they know not what they do”! It feels like a bad dream but unfortunately its reality. I am in mourning and grieving this terrible loss.
I don’t have it in me to go into detail, but in no uncertain terms can I say America won regardless of who we woke up to as the winner. What is said in the election cycle is rarely what comes to fruition in reality. Take it easy over there. The world is not burning yet. I’d rather see messages of unity versus more mourning garbage. And no. I do not identify as a Trump supporter.
Well, said. Because, really, I don’t know what to say. I’ve heard people in the past say that our checks and balances are in place, so the President is really only the face of America. What a face. I’m embarrassed, too.
You have summed up the situation so well! I am troubled that a majority of Americans would actually see fit to elect any person who has known connections to actively racist groups. I am ashamed at the pitiful American education system that could render so many citizens bereft of the basic understanding of how our government operates or how our decisions affect humanity across the globe.
A majority of Americans DID NOT vote for Trump. Educate yourself.
Hillary won the popular vote. She got 59,672,594 votes (47.7%), vs. 59,461,401 votes (47.5%) for the orange monster. But she lost the electoral college by a lot. Not all votes are equal.
I am worried that the Republicans will spend the next four years working to disenfranchise what is, year by year, becoming the majority.
I know plenty of Trump supporters. While they tend to be upstanding citizens, they are full of hate. They are high-school educated, sexist, racist white males. They consider women to be weak and incompetent by design, and minorities to be criminals. They also hate gays and anybody who isn’t Christian. There is no live and let live. It’s my way or the highway. To them, they are doing no wrong by wanting to take away these people’s rights; they are simply restoring the natural order.
I am spending my time here: https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F15832
I’m thinking the same thing…
unsubscribe me, you have no idea what you are talking about, educate yourself with history, I am a french woman who is amazed that you would have elected a woman because she is a woman , not minding her totally unacceptable behaviour taking money from countries who absolutely hate women such as saudi arabia, Quatar etc. who ignored pleas for help from the ambassador of libya letting him die with 4 other americans. The woman who last night did not even have the courtesy to thank her supporters , this has never been done before!!! that says a lot about the respect she had for them. Should i go on?
You will need to unsubscribe yourself. I do not have control over your account.
However, I think one of the biggest problems we see right now is the lack of respect of other’s opinions. No one wanted to elect a woman to elect a woman, at least not me. No where in my article did I say that… As a university professor, history and constitutional law are my areas of study… I wouldn’t say I have no idea what I am talking about… But my point stands about a lack of respect.
So much to say about the election – my husband is American – we live in Australia, thankfully! He is a registered Republican but there is nothing about Trump that he supports. What happens in the next 4 years is unknown given that Trump does not have a stable policy platform and flip flops from one position to the next. The only hope is that he breaks all his electoral promises and doesn’t make many far reaching decisions, but I fear for the Supreme Court and for the fact that the Republicans own both the Senate and the House. Pure democracy isn’t a silver bullet for an ignorant populace fed on emotive news stories who may well have voted against their own best interests, ironically. We’re living in interesting times!
Why would you say that Americans are an ignorant populace? Did you know Clinton won the popular vote? Insane the international bashing we are getting. More insane when you see how ignorant those commenters can be. Take it easy. The world isn’t burning.
I’m drawing from my personal experiences with the many Americans I met while I lived in New York and Florida, many of whom are caught in a confirmation bias loop and echo chamber, choosing to ignore all opposing views. Is that ignorance, or stubbornness? Call it what you will, but you’re right – it’s not limited to Americans of course – there’s plenty of that everywhere in the world.
And yes I did know that Clinton won the popular vote but even that is a misnomer – only about half of Americans voted this year. Clinton won just a tad over half of that voting block, which is about 25% of everyone who is eligible to vote. I know that the turnout was likely low because of the electoral college system but that is a function of the checks and balances that America’s democracy has built for itself. The same democracy that America has been so proud of.
And while the world isn’t burning, (yet), my opinion is that Trump’s election will be seen by the alt right as a green light to normalise their way of thinking. If a man can call Mexicans racists, lie over and over again with impunity, brag about assaulting women, ignore Constitutional freedoms about religion, insult people with no empathy and still be elected to be the President of the United States by about 25% of Americans, what word would you use to describe the American populace?
Horrible. Like some commenters.
It is interesting to see how divided people are on the subject. Thank you in any case for your comment. Politics is not the normal subject of this blog, so I won’t belabor the point. With my best.
Please do not use your wonderful blog to discuss politics. This sounds just like what I can find anywhere. I visit here to read about the lovely French culture. Keep doing what you do so well. Let us come together and wish our newly elected President Trump the best. We need to at least give him some time to show what good he can be accomplish. And I believe he will. It’s the least we can do for our new president.
Very well said. Thank you!