Next week, in principle, we should know who, Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, is elected for four years as head of the United States. Donald Trump is seeking a second term, four years after losing the one against Joe Biden. And Kamala Harris, if elected, would become the first woman, and the first African-American elected to this position, in this country.
franceinfo: Why is France so passionate about this American election?
Jean Viard: First of all, America is a child of ours, since many of the inhabitants come from Europe. And at the same time, he's a bit like our guardian, our parent, it's a very ambiguous position. We both like it and we don't like it, and at the same time, it's such a creative country. Look at cinema, technology, etc. There, we have an election which is of great importance because we are on the edge of illiberal regimes in all our major democracies. The closest I get to ex-President Trump is Orbán, in Hungary, at home.
We can clearly see that our democracies are faltering because the world has bifurcated and changed. And in this bifurcation, in a digital world, the cruder you are, the better it works. So you have people who get along well, notably Trump, and on the other side, you have a lady, who is a daughter of civil society, who was a prosecutor, this is not always a professional policy , and she's a woman.
And so the idea that the most powerful country in the world is led by a woman is also enormous because it is enormous for all women, and then we see that authoritarian regimes, Chinese, Russian, and others , are led by men in the virile, fighting genre. This is all in question right now.
And what consequences, what impact, do these elections have on France?
It's paradoxical because America is in the process of closing itself down, putting all its power into using the dollar, they are investing billions, we are experiencing a gigantic industrial revolution, not only linked to global warming, linked to AI, linked to lots of new technologies. Today, the industry is about learning to deal with it: we can see clearly with the sun, with the wind, etc., so we are in this shift, and they have the means, they are moving forward. They have taken 10 points of GDP since 2019. Europe has taken a little more than 4, and France, a little more than 3.
They were twice as fast as us in development, and even in development in innovative energy fields. So, it's a lesson for the world, and let's be honest, it's the peace regulators, the Americans, it's the largest army in the world, it's a country that has intervened in many places, A lot of Americans have been soldiers since the Civil War.
This is what is at stake, it is a great country of peace and war, because we always say that the Chinese are very numerous, it is indisputable, but their army has never fought, this is not a combat army, and therefore the power of the United States, even if they tend to abandon Europe, even if they tend to find that the real subject of the world is their confrontation with China, basically, they are still the regulatory power.
So on the other hand, it forces us Europeans, whatever the result, to really build economic, political and military unity. And so, are we going to get there? It plays on us, it plays on Ukraine, it plays on their ability to regulate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, to develop a balanced and innovative discourse on the rights and respect of these two populations. There's all that at stake. And I think that for the world, this election is going to be an important date.
The French are not voting in this election, but they have a favorite candidate, it is Kamala Harris. According to a poll, only 13% of French people want a victory for Donald Trump. Why, do you think?
America is a bit like the Europeans, who emerged in the 19th century from the codes of religion, the codes of the local, etc. We see it clearly in westerns, there are no rules. And we in Europe have codes that protect us everywhere. The municipality, the region, the nation, Europe, religions, unions: we are very protected.
Kamala Harris is a bit of a European model: a little more protection, health for all, while there are plenty of Americans who don't have health protection, that's huge, especially the poor are monstrous. We basically see the Democrats as the European social model. And then I think it's a woman. And I think Trump is so vulgar that it doesn't appeal to us much.
