A few days before the election, has one of the two candidates irremediably won this campaign?
No. It is absolutely impossible to say today who will win or who is the favorite. Given the polls and the upheavals of the campaign over the last few weeks, this election promises to be extraordinarily close. This does not mean that the end result will be the same. This election works with a system of electors. If the dominoes fall on the right side for either, they could win by a relatively large margin of victory.
We still see that Kamala Harris is in the lead in polls in four of the seven swing states. However, it is often said that this is where the election is played out…
Yes, but if we take into account the margins of error, we realize that his lead is extremely small. These seven undecided states can still swing to one side or the other.
In this final stretch of the campaign, we saw Donald Trump’s team encounter some difficulties following the comments of a comedian present at the Republican candidate’s meeting. He referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” How can we explain such a blunder so close to the election?
It was a joke in extremely bad taste that the Democrats immediately seized on. But Trump wasn’t the originator of the joke. In the end, the main blunder in this story did not come from the Republican candidate but from Joe Biden. The president spoke out Wednesday saying the trash were actually Trump voters. The Republican immediately seized on this attack with all the political skill we know him to have. He had himself photographed driving a garbage truck, disguised as a garbage collector, to denounce the contempt of Kamala Harris’ campaign. The candidate was also very embarrassed and had to disavow the president’s comments without really quoting him. Paradoxically, it is Kamala Harris who will suffer the most from this episode, because of Joe Biden.
Hasn’t Donald Trump been playing a dangerous game since the start of the migration campaign ?
This is his third campaign and he has always used this technique. In 2015, Trump had already made an incredibly violent speech on migrants whom he had associated with rapists. That has always been his campaign message. It worked once, but it also lost the second time. We’ll see what happens now. With this type of statement, he galvanizes his base, it can cost him independent voters in the center.
Given the extremely small gap between the candidates, could Joe Biden’s mistake cause Kamala Harris to lose the election?
It is difficult to isolate a single campaign event and see it as a real turning point. But it is certain that, in the very last straight line, every inflection can count. The embarrassment of the White House and Kamala Harris clearly demonstrates that this is not a favorable episode. Especially since this gaffe by Biden refers to a somewhat sensitive episode for the Democrats, when Hillary Clinton described Trump supporters as despicable people in 2016. This word stuck with him throughout the rest of the campaign. It was considered at the time that this had had an impact on the result.
Joe Biden hasn’t he become Kamala Harris’s ball and chain?
The expression is a bit strong. But it is certain that we will not hear much more from now until the vote.
The Democrat must face a complicated exercise: not to lower Biden’s record, while inflation is terrible in the United States…
Yes, it’s a balancing act. In particular, on inflation which is a hot topic. Americans are extremely sensitive to rising prices. This is a point on which Donald Trump regularly emphasizes and on which the Democrat has difficulty coming up with proposals which are both in continuity with and at odds with what Biden, of whom she was vice-president, has done. for four years.
Kamala Harris has decided to toughen up her speech against Trump at the end of the campaign: “Fascist“, “little tyrant”, “an aspiring dictator”… Can this strategy pay off?
We feel that she has hesitated since the start of her campaign. She rather stayed away from harsh remarks about Trump at the beginning, for a simple reason: she knows that the outcome of the vote will rest very largely on independents and undecideds. They are moderate Republicans or Democrats who lean a little Republican. This is why she has been careful until now not to offend anyone. But Kamala Harris toughened her tone at the end. It’s a gamble that can push voters in either direction.
If the Democrat wins, should we expect that Donald Trump refuses his defeat and the United States falls into chaos ?
It is certain that the former president will not accept his defeat. We must keep in mind the episode of January 6, 2020 (the assault on the Capitol, editor’s note). He’s not a good loser. But two things can make the difference compared to what we experienced in 2020. First of all, the extent of the victory or defeat of one or the other. Then, the fact that Donald Trump is no longer president. If he loses, his only platform will be that of a candidate. However, at the time, he was still in the White House and still benefiting from the power of the president’s desk. It is still very different in terms of mobilization capacity.
You worked alongside Trump for four years in the White House. Is it really unstable and unpredictable?
Yes. During his four-year mandate, one word came up all the time when we talked about his days and his operations: cacophony. He was making everyone in the White House and Congress a little exhausted. It only worked through a succession of polemics. I remember the time he offered to buy Greenland. This had given rise to tensions with Denmark. The case eventually fell apart, but it was very much a reflection of Trump’s mandate. He himself created and fueled his own controversies.
What relationship did you have with the Republican?
There is a paradox in the relationship between Donald Trump and journalists: he insults them from morning to night, but he constantly seeks to be in contact with them, because he loves the media coverage. So he came to see us all the time and improvised little press conferences.
How did you become one of 49 journalists working at the White House ?
I was already working in the United States for the AFP. And it turns out that the French-speaking position at the White House opened following a rotation. I stayed there longer than expected.
Did you work in direct proximity to the famous Oval Office?
Yes ! The place where everything is decided, everything is planned, is the West Wing. This is a small part of the building where we find the president’s office, some offices of his advisors, and then the journalists. We benefit from valuable proximity by working a few dozen meters from the Oval Office. We cannot move around freely, but we see the president when he receives his guests, when he leaves the White House… He cannot go days without explaining where he is, without being accountable.
Have you witnessed any funny scenes?
Yes, a lot! Working in the White House, we experience moments of history and lighter, even funny moments. Everything is formalized, the president never appears alone in front of journalists. But I remember one day when Donald Trump took all the reporters by surprise by pulling the sliding door open to signal that he had a big announcement to make. This was to warn of an upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. I also remember very strong, very solemn moments. In the United States, there was a whole debate on torture, applied in particular in Iraq, and on how to qualify it. We then spoke of “interrogation technique”. And, at one point, Barack Obama declared that the United States had tortured people and that it had to be said. There was then a heavy silence in the room because it is rare for an American president to speak in these terms.
You now work at the AFP Brussels office…
Yes, I am responsible for covering Belgium and the European Union for AFP, and it’s a whole different world. Brussels is also a place of power, but very different, in terms of codes, visibility, incarnation of authority… But this city is fascinating.
