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the views of Marc Dugain and Xavier Yvon on the United States today

Everyone wears the colors of America on this presidential election day which takes place across the Atlantic. Marc Dugain, author of The Plane, Putin, America… and mewatch this election with “worry”and the one who presents himself as “European and democratic” says he fears the authoritarian excesses of former President Donald Trump if he is re-elected.

“Trump will go down in human history for giving as much force to lies as to the truth.”

For Marc Dugain, Donald Trump has reached a level of disorder in speeches never before reached in the history of the United States. He explains that we are “today in a fog between lies and truth, and he [Donald Trump] assume the lie”. He also believes that large American companies are using the Republican candidate as a “puppet”, by providing their support for the sole reason that it is in the direction of their financial interests, unlike the Democrats, who are more inclined to tax large groups.

Finally, the writer wants to end on a positive note: having lived in the United States for years, and witnessing the evolution of American society over time, he affirms that he would have been “unthinkable” It is still a few years ago to have a black woman candidate for the American presidential election, which therefore seems to be progress. Half-hearted progress, however, is evidenced by “the divide which has never been so violent” according to the writer. This develops: “Donald Trump is white men and old men, and Kamala Harris is young people, women, and partly people of color.” Two candidacies which ultimately represent the fracture of the two Americas which seem irreconcilable.

The Plane, Putin, America… and me by Marc Dugain, available now in bookstores.

It’s an intimate story that the podcast has Taylor Swift, the world, my daughter, and mesince the journalist Xavier Yvon embarked on its production to better understand his daughter Sacha, a 13-year-old schoolgirl and fan of Taylor Swift (“swifty”). “DChildren who adore artists that their parents ignore or ignore are as old as time, testifies Xavier Yvon at the microphone of Tout Public. Except that the artist in question, Taylor Swift, is such a phenomenon on such a scale that it caught my attention. I said to myself: 'We are journalists, we are curious about the world around us. If I can't understand this phenomenon and what it says about the times in which my daughter is growing up, I've missed something.” So that's how he decided to take an interest in it, and that the father and daughter embark on a road trip across the United States, in the footsteps of the singer and idol of Sacha, which they will document step by step.

Taylor Swift's success can be explained in particular by her ability to bring together a very different audience throughout the world, particularly thanks to her lyrics. “Taylor Swift's writing is her main strength. Taylor Swift is not the best singer, not the best dancer, but her talent, what moves swifties like Sacha, is her writing, it's because she tells simple things, but which speak to everyone”explains Xavier Yvon.

“I find my life as a thirteen-year-old French child in songs written by an American star who does not have at all the same life as me.”

The star's influence has a resonance that touches multiple areas, both intimate and political. This is what the podcast shows, which notably returns to the trial for sexual assault that the singer won at the end of a long battle, and which allowed freedom of speech among women victims of sexist and sexual violence. Sacha confirms this effect, which allowed him, on his scale, to “talk to [ses] parents, and to identify the feelings [qu’elle pouvait ressentir]” in her teenage life.

The podcast “Taylor Swift, the world, my daughter, and me” by Xavier Yvon is available to listen to here.

Tout Public also takes a detour to the typical musical genre of the United States, country music, often used as a symbol of white and conservative America. By Dolly Parton and her legendary title Jolene released in 1973, through Beyoncé, support for Kamala Harris, who in her new album Cowboy Carterreconnects country to its African-American origins, and Jason Aldean, fervent Trumpist and anti-woke, country music is itself the story of the divide in the American population.

A program with the participation of Yann Bertrand, journalist in the Franceinfo culture department.

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