Stop What You’re Doing And Watch This French Senator’s Take On Trump, Musk
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A French politician by the name of Claude Malhuret has unexpectedly gained a global following after an eight-minute address to his colleagues in the French Senate on Tuesday went viral.
The speech offers a clear-eyed assessment of President Donald Trump’s alarming efforts to destroy democracy both in America and abroad, aided by Elon Musk, whom he refers to as “a ketamine-fueled jester.”
“Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy,” said Malhuret, reflecting on Trump’s baffling subservience to Russian President Vladimir Putin and constant belittling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally.”
He continued: “We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.”
The center-right politician then proceeded to make a compelling case for how Putin sees the world, how Trump’s “shipwreck” will embolden Chinese President Xi Jinping, and how Europe must rebuild its own defense capabilities in the face of a crumbling American shield.
Malhuret wasn’t all doom and gloom, however, ending his speech with a stirring call to action in the face of an admitted "Herculean task."
“But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads,” he said, noting Republican politicians’ tanking polling and their terror of attending their own town halls.
“Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost. The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
“Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.”
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Here’s a transcript of Malhuret’s full speech, via the French Senate :
Mr. President, Mr. Prime Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers, My dear colleagues,
Europe is at a critical turning point in its history. The American shield is crumbling, Ukraine risks being abandoned, Russia strengthened.
Washington has become the court of Nero, a fiery emperor, submissive courtiers and a ketamine-fueled jester in charge of purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it is first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. Trump’s message is that there is no point in being his ally since he will not defend you, he will impose more customs duties on you than on his enemies and will threaten to seize your territories while supporting the dictatorships that invade you.
The king of the deal is showing what the art of the deal is all about. He thinks he will intimidate China by lying down before Putin, but Xi Jinping, faced with such a shipwreck, is probably accelerating preparations for the invasion of Taiwan.
Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy. Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally. Never has anyone trampled on the American Constitution, issued so many illegal decrees, dismissed judges who could have prevented him from doing so, dismissed the military general staff in one fell swoop, weakened all checks and balances, and taken control of social media.
This is not an illiberal drift, it is the beginning of the confiscation of democracy. Let us remember that it took only one month, three weeks and two days to bring down the Weimar Republic and its Constitution.
I have faith in the strength of American democracy, and the country is already protesting. But in one month, Trump has done more harm to America than in four years of his last presidency. We were at war with a dictator, now we are fighting a dictator backed by a traitor.
Eight days ago, at the very moment that Trump was rubbing Macron’s back in the White House, the United States voted at the UN with Russia and North Korea against the Europeans demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops.
Two days later, in the Oval Office, the military service shirker was giving war hero Zelensky lessons in morality and strategy before dismissing him like a groom, ordering him to submit or resign.
Tonight, he took another step into infamy by stopping the delivery of weapons that had been promised. What to do in the face of this betrayal? The answer is simple: face it.
And first of all, let’s not be mistaken. The defeat of Ukraine would be the defeat of Europe. The Baltic States, Georgia, Moldova are already on the list. Putin’s goal is to return to Yalta, where half the continent was ceded to Stalin.
The countries of the South are waiting for the outcome of the conflict to decide whether they should continue to respect Europe or whether they are now free to trample on it.
What Putin wants is the end of the order put in place by the United States and its allies 80 years ago, with its first principle being the prohibition of acquiring territory by force.
This idea is at the very source of the UN, where today Americans vote in favor of the aggressor and against the attacked, because the Trumpian vision coincides with that of Putin: a return to spheres of influence, the great powers dictating the fate of small countries.
Mine is Greenland, Panama and Canada, you are Ukraine, the Baltics and Eastern Europe, he is Taiwan and the China Sea.
At the parties of the oligarchs of the Gulf of Mar-a-Lago, this is called “diplomatic realism.”
So we are alone. But the talk that Putin cannot be resisted is false. Contrary to the Kremlin’s propaganda, Russia is in bad shape. In three years, the so-called second largest army in the world has managed to grab only crumbs from a country three times less populated.
Interest rates at 25%, the collapse of foreign exchange and gold reserves, the demographic collapse show that it is on the brink of the abyss. The American helping hand to Putin is the biggest strategic mistake ever made in a war.
The shock is violent, but it has a virtue. Europeans are coming out of denial. They understood in one day in Munich that the survival of Ukraine and the future of Europe are in their hands and that they have three imperatives.
Accelerate military aid to Ukraine to compensate for the American abandonment, so that it holds, and of course to impose its presence and that of Europe in any negotiation.
This will be expensive. It will be necessary to end the taboo of the use of frozen Russian assets. It will be necessary to circumvent Moscow’s accomplices within Europe itself by a coalition of only the willing countries, with of course the United Kingdom.
Second, demand that any agreement be accompanied by the return of kidnapped children, prisoners and absolute security guarantees. After Budapest, Georgia and Minsk, we know what agreements with Putin are worth. These guarantees require sufficient military force to prevent a new invasion.
Finally, and this is the most urgent, because it is what will take the most time, we must build the neglected European defence, to the benefit of the American umbrella since 1945 and scuttled since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It is a Herculean task, but it is on its success or failure that the leaders of today’s democratic Europe will be judged in the history books.
Friedrich Merz has just declared that Europe needs its own military alliance. This is to recognize that France has been right for decades in arguing for strategic autonomy.
It remains to be built. It will be necessary to invest massively, to strengthen the European Defence Fund outside the Maastricht debt criteria, to harmonize weapons and munitions systems, to accelerate the entry into the Union of Ukraine, which is today the leading European army, to rethink the place and conditions of nuclear deterrence based on French and British capabilities, to relaunch the anti-missile shield and satellite programs.
The plan announced yesterday by Ursula von der Leyen is a very good starting point. And much more will be needed.
Europe will only become a military power again by becoming an industrial power again. In a word, the Draghi report will have to be implemented. For good.
But the real rearmament of Europe is its moral rearmament.
We must convince public opinion in the face of war weariness and fear, and especially in the face of Putin’s cronies, the extreme right and the extreme left.
They argued again yesterday in the National Assembly, Mr Prime Minister, before you, against European unity, against European defence.
They say they want peace. What neither they nor Trump say is that their peace is capitulation, the peace of defeat, the replacement of de Gaulle Zelensky by a Ukrainian Pétain at the beck and call of Putin.
Peace for the collaborators who have refused any aid to the Ukrainians for three years.
Is this the end of the Atlantic Alliance? The risk is great. But in the last few days, the public humiliation of Zelensky and all the crazy decisions taken in the last month have finally made the Americans react.
Polls are falling. Republican lawmakers are being greeted by hostile crowds in their constituencies. Even Fox News is becoming critical.
The Trumpists are no longer in their majesty. They control the executive, the Parliament, the Supreme Court and social networks.
But in American history, the freedom fighters have always prevailed. They are beginning to raise their heads.
The fate of Ukraine is being played out in the trenches, but it also depends on those in the United States who want to defend democracy, and here on our ability to unite Europeans, to find the means for their common defense, and to make Europe the power that it once was in history and that it hesitates to become again.
Our parents defeated fascism and communism at great cost.
The task of our generation is to defeat the totalitarianisms of the 21st century.
Long live free Ukraine, long live democratic Europe.
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What an embarrassment.
What a disaster.
in addition to throwing the US economy into the shitter, trump can now focus on our international reputation ...
Trump is the all-time poster child for kakistocracy.
Pretty impressive by the French senator.
Putin was desperate up until Trump was sworn in, after which Trump immediately got down on his hands and knees and treasonously kissed Putin's feet and his loyal sycophants have lined up behind him to save Putin and Russia that has a lower GDP than California. Putin wasn't winning, but these slimy weak treasonous bitches just bailed out Putin because they align with his rightwing conservative authoritarianism. Truly sickening to watch and to know that sadly, we now live among Putin loving rightwing conservative traitors. It is a sad time for all patriotic Americans. The 2028 election cannot come soon enough so we can get reason and rationale back into the oval office. Perhaps even before then if some Republicans are able to retrieve their balls and spines from Trumps pocket.
The greatest generation are appalled. Yet the “citizen soldier” will raise once again to grasp freedom from the hands of tyrants.
The true warriors/patriots of all races will assure that we remain a democratic republic.
”It takes few words to tell the truth.”
Arvo..hope all is well up in your part of this Great Southern Land..
Yes it really is starting to ring true..
Made America Garbage Again..
First time was bad enough but the second..... lost for words...
You think it can't get any worse but then he really seems to out do himself..
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Russia that has a lower GDP than California
Yet TDS strickren progressives believe Russia is an existential threat to conquer the world and use this paper tiger to justify borrowing billions of dollars annually for eternity in a fight they, and Obama, recognized didn't involve vital American interests before becoming stricken with TDS.
The sad part is China is supplying Russia and keeping it in the war while trump just extended sanctions against Russia. But innate anti-Americanism and tds leads them to blame trump and ignore china.
Never thought I would see the day the USA would support North Korea.. let alone Russia..over Ukraine.
Our Ambassador to the US was right in hindsight...never truer words has been spoken..
Mr Rudd said in 2017 that Trump was thought of as “nuts”, in 2022 labelled him the “most destructive president in history” and in 2022 described him as a “traitor to the West” after Trump defended his praise for Russian ruler Vladimir Putin.
I have been saying Trump is completely unfit to hold office since June of 2015.
That just isn't true. China and North Korea are absolutely supporting Russia. Ukraine still exists as a country because of American support. But Ukraine is losing, slowly, despite years of bankruptcy inducing support from the USA. We simply can't keep borrowing billions to allow Ukraine to slowly be ground down by Russia. All the money in the world isn't going to create the soldiers Ukraine needs to survive, and Americans aren't going to die for Ukraine.
SO Trump is trying to force a peace that will allow Ukraine to survive. Ukraine is losing. It's a good thing when you are losing to get a peace that allows the country to survive and regroup. Because if things keep going the way they are going, Ukraine is going to be ground into dust. Its sucks. But that the real world. For Ukraine to exist in 50 years it needs peace. Its needs it emigrants to return and start replenishing it's population.
Either America sends troops or the war will continue going the way its been going, with Russia just grinding the smaller country with less troops down.
It's easy to call Trump the villain (but never China that is actively supporting Russia for some reason) but no one ever provides solutions for Ukraine to win without Americans dying by the thousands.
You have mentioned only two possibilities.,, when there's actually a third.
If the U.S. cuts of all assisstance (which means a lot more than just supplying weapons) many European nations will rise to the occasion. They are familiar with Putin. And they are aware of the fact that he must be stopped...
Europe can provide money. It can't provide troops, and it can't even provide munitions. It will take years for Europe to create the necessary scale of armament manufacturing capability. Europe wasted the last decade. Remember them laughing at the UN when Trump told them to increase spending and wean themselves off Russian energy?
But let's say you are correct and Europe is able to double its contribution and somehow replace American armaments. Ukraine is still losing with massive American support. Unless Europeans want to die by the thousands the situation will keep deteriorating . The limiting factor Ukraine faces isn't money, it's human capital.
The US certainly doesn't need to send troops, nor should they..
Russia needs to go back to its own borders and stay there..plain and simple as that... nothing more needs to be done... it's not hard but there again we are talking about Russians...
Putin's idea of reuniting Russia back to the USSR days are dead and buried...he just can't accept that plain fact...
This has been crawling under his skin since he slimed his way into the Kremlin as he has stated that himself...
"He says and compares his invasion of Ukraine to eighteenth century Russian Czar Peter the Great’s imperial conquests, and has boasted of “returning” historically Russian lands.
In a 2005 Kremlin speech, Putin characterized the collapse of the Soviet Union as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century". Putin elaborated, "Moreover, the epidemic of disintegration infected Russia itself".
Putin wants to go down in history as the one to reunite Russia..all he will go down for is one of the greatest war mongers ever...
Ukraine will always exist.. Russia can grind away all it likes and Ukraine will still be there...
Ukraine stands against an aggressor of a hated regime and a detested leader of an invading country...all because Putin wants his dream of a USSR back...
I agree. That would be ideal. But they don't seem keen to do that and they only language they understand is blunt force. Ukraine just doesn't have the troops to do that. They barely can keep the land they own right now.
Ukraine will always exist.. Russia can grind away all it likes and Ukraine will still be there...
The land yes. But math is math. Millions of Ukrainians left the country. Will they return? And those that are left are dying at three times the rate they are reproducing.
History says otherwise...look at all the countries from all the wars...they all still exist to this day regardless of population...
Yes people have left but also many have returned...my SIL family are still there in Ukraine.. still living and still fighting...
Russia has taken on a foe it will regret ask the families of the Russian dead....and for what?..
The dream of a USSR that their leader has dragged them into..an era that is long gone, just like Putin should be...
The Russian people no more wanted this bloody war, anymore than the Ukrainian people did...
The Ukrainians have a cause, the Russians have nothing, other than a long lost now irrelevant dream...
Really? History shows a lot of cultures and distinct ethnicities no longer exist.
Look at a map from 1000 AD and see how familiar it looks. People still live in those areas, but their cultures, if not their entire ethnicity no longer exist.
I'm of Irish descent. The Gaelic tribes and culture my ancestors would have belonged are completely different than those of contemporary Irish. Some DNA got passed down, but the Gaels lost the wars and then their ethnic identity. Wars can wipe cultures out.
Morning..we were talking about Ukraine...and WW1 and WW2, more recent history!!..1,000 AD??... really...
I am of British decent which is of no relevance to Putin's invasion of Ukraine which was the subject..
If you really want to start talking history then we go back 60,000 years with the Kooris and they and us are still here...
You literally said "history teaches us" so I pointed out what history teaches.
Ukraine isn't exempt from history. Pretending otherwise might make you feel better, but i prefer reality. Losing wars and massive depopulation can't always be recovered from.
am of British decent which
And the fact that successive invasions by romans, saxons and normans destroyed british culture and left almost no trace of it should tell you something.
? It's the rightwing conservative Trump supporters who are claiming Russia is so strong and powerful and "hold all the cards" and apparently can't be beaten and thus the only option is to kneel to Putin, abandon our ally, cut off all support for Ukraine and hope Putin pats them on the head like good little doggies. All to a nation with the GDP less than California. The only explanation I can come up with is that some people are just sooooooooo fucking stupid they can't wrap their tiny minds around facts, reality and are easily fooled so it's not really a surprise that some scum bag con artists tricked them and got their support, and now it's likely some realize it, but they're apparently too ashamed to admit it so they'll just double down on stupid.
This isn't hard. Ukraine doesn't have the soldiers to throw Russia out of Ukraine. That doesn't mean Russia is either particularly strong or powerful.
hat some people are just sooooooooo fucking stupid they can't wrap their tiny minds around facts, reality and are easily fooled so it's not r
That's one explanation why some people seem to equate pointing out that Ukraine can't throw Russian troops out of Ukraine with claiming Russia is all powerful. Some peoples minds are too small to handle the slightest bit of nuance.
And we have people here continuing to defend Trump's every move and claiming that Trump has not damaged international relationships.
Just ... incredible.
IMO he has paved the upward path for China. What I cannot comprehend is the fear of China.
We see his apparently deaf, dumb and blind sycophants here on NT every day telling us how nice his "threads" are. It's truly mind blowing to watch. When I read the story of the Emperor's New Clothes as a child I thought how ridiculous that was. I mean it's laughable that anyone would pretend not to see their leader standing before them completely naked. But here we are, watching this very scene play out before all the American people and in utter disbelief half the country has looked to the other half and said "Hey, you do see he's totally naked right? He just spent all our money on fictional invisible clothes and is too proud to admit it and his sycophants are too scared to point it out." to which his sycophants reply "What are you talking about? I mean, look at the craftsmanship, look at the genius, look at the marvel of the President suit! It's absolutely divine!". We have officially entered The Twilight Zone.
Look out! They are going to call you "triggered". Of course, they're shooting blanks.
Well on one hand they are proving the weaknesses of AI. Different Departments of different agencies are searching out bad words and bad pictures related to the word gay.
As in Enola Gay or any number of hundreds of veterans last named Gay.
Can't have them on government sites, lol.
One thing is for certain; Hegseth will never name a base for any veteran named Gay who earned any Service Dress Candy.
Maybe the only thing that will stop Trump is when he causes the complete collapse U.S. economy, which is on the foreseeable horizon. At that point, even the craven and cowardly Republican politicians might oppose him.
You might be right.
And if that doesn't happen sooner, IMO the republicans will suffer big loses in both houses of Congress during the midterms, (How many people who have been unjustly fired from their jobs will be voting Republican?)
I remain disgusted that Trump is the face and voice of our nation. I am more disgusted that anyone supports this asshole.
I know one Trumpist, who, when anything is brought to his attention about Trump's ineptitude and malfeasance, always responds: "I'm interested see how things play out." Or sometimes, "I just want to see how things play out." His friends and family members - his wife and his adult children - think he's lost his mind.
That is a common excuse. How many times have people argued that we need to let the tariffs play out? That we need to see how Trump's trashing of Zelensky and support of Putin plays out. That we need to wait and see how the mass firings play out.
They have no argument so they pathetically kick the can down the road (and also engage in myriad dishonest tactics).
Often he will make a bold statement as if it is a fact, and when challenged and asked to provide proof, his usual response is "I don't really know anything about it".
Glad to see the Western Europeans finally seeing the light and stepping up to aid their Eastern brothers, who are more Russian than European. Brilliant move by Trump to shame them into doing so.
In the meantime, it appears that Trump and Putin and Zelensky will all get together and start negotiations soon, much to the dismay of the lefties, many of whom seem to be caught up in hysterical overreactions.
A stupid move unless Trump turns around and shores things up with full USA support. If not, he has caused this war to NOT come to an end but rather continue in a prolonged shedding of blood, treasure, and destruction.
And even if he does provide full USA support, he has unnecessarily damaged USA relationships worldwide. He has already failed us in that regard; a major failure.
Yet another indication of a fundamentally flawed stereotype.
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Let me rephrase then...
Did you feel similarly when the previous administration restricted Ukraine?
If Trump had continued support for Ukraine in the exact same manner as Biden, I would have the exact same comments.
Trump is correct that we need a peace deal. But just saying that is easy. Anyone can say 'we need to stop the bloodshed'. The hard part is actually accomplishing that.
To me the only way to stop this war short of forcing Ukraine to capitulate is to put forth such a strong showing of force from those allied with Ukraine in this fight that Putin becomes willing to negotiate with reasonable terms.
Putin, prior to Trump parroting his talking points and having them be displayed on Russian media as perfect propaganda, had a big PR problem. On top of that, their military is severely degraded, and they are suffering a 21% interest rate and inflation at 10%.
Now, if Trump continues to starve Ukraine and abdicate responsibility as the leader of the free world, the EU will invest more heavily because they realize that Ukraine's freedom is directly related to their security. They will not have enough power to produce the strong show of force I described to bring Putin to the table on reasonable terms, so what will happen is that the war will be prolonged.
Trump, because his is a new administration, had the perfect opportunity to change the dynamic. He did not have to be consistent with Biden ... he was free to start things fresh. He could have rallied more support and used his big tough guy bullshit to make a stronger front.
That is not happening. Trump is going to cause this war to continue. He is a buffoon.
80 years of free riding is a hard habit to break.
What reactionaries mean by "negotiations" is that Trump will demand that Zelensky and Ukraine surrender to the murderous dictator Putin.
Shitting on friends and allies to the benefit of a murderous tyrant, and betraying the post-war security arrangement in Europe that we ourselves created is not brilliant, and shames no one but us.
I got that far before laughing so hard I fell off my chair.