French politician's demand for return of Statue of Liberty angers Trump supporters: Come on, get it

A French lawmaker's demands that the US return the Statue of Liberty have sparked outrage among Donald Trump's MAGA supporters.

The Make America Great Again movement has been outraged by comments made by Raphael Glucksmann, who accused Trump's America of "being on the side of the tyrants" of the world.

He said France's gift should be returned, suggesting that the US no longer truly values ​​freedom, the Telegraph reports.

Responses from MAGA followers online are divided between those who want to go to France to keep the iconic monument in New York, those who want to send it back where it came from – along with other immigrants – and those who want to remove it and replace it with a statue of Trump.

The inflammatory comments from Glucksmann, a politician from France's center-left Place Publique party, come amid rising diplomatic tensions between the US and Europe.

Concerns about trade tariffs, the issue of defense spending, and Trump's approach to Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent bloody war are all points of disagreement.

The French want the Statue of Liberty back. Come get it b!tches! pic.twitter.com/wqTgKllkcl

— TrumpsKitten (@TrumpsBadKitty) March 17, 2025

Gluckmann is not the first person to call for the statue to be removed. Maxwell Frost, a Florida Democrat, said in January 2024 that the statue should be removed, judging by Republican immigration policy, because it is a “symbol that tells people to come here, so the least you can do is stop being a damn liar.”

Glucksmann, an ardent supporter of Ukraine, criticized the US during a party convention on Sunday.

"Give us back the Statue of Liberty," he said, according to the AFP news agency.

"We will say to the Americans who chose to side with tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for their pursuit of scientific freedom: 'Give us back the Statue of Liberty,'" the French politician said, among other things.

"We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So it will be fine here at home," Glucksmann added.

France presented the statue to the US in 1884 as a gift to commemorate the alliance, and work on the monument was completed two years later.

Replace the Statue of Liberty with a Statue of Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/6ncqrx5sdO

— Fist Punch Skull (@FistPunchSkull) March 17, 2025

A bronze plaque below contains the poem The New Colossus, written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, which contains the famous lines: “Give me your weary, your poor / Your huddled masses that long to breathe free / The wretched dregs of your crowded shore.”

Some have contrasted these sentiments with Trump's policies, and Glucksmann seems to be implying the same inconsistency.

Either way, his words have fueled MAGA online.

An X user, who identifies as MAGA and whose name is given as TrumpsKitten, shared a video of a toddler in boxing gloves and wrote on the platform: "The French want the Statue of Liberty back. Come get it!"

But another X user who describes himself as an “American Nationalist” said of France: “Great, they can have it. We shouldn’t let ourselves be bullied by communists fighting culture. The [American] Statue of the Republic is much better and will look fantastic once we rebuild it on Lady Liberty’s pedestal.”

The account shared an image of the Statue of Republic in Chicago, Illinois.

While another commenter, who identifies as a conservative on their profile, wrote: "Replace the Statue of Liberty with a Statue of Donald Trump" and shared an AI-generated image of it.

The Statue of Liberty after finding out France wants her back pic.twitter.com/ttMBorVPnh

— MAGA MAGA-zine 🇺🇸 (The White Rabbit🐰) (@LukeSkywatcher4) March 17, 2025

Meanwhile, another X user, who describes himself as Christian and patriotic, added that returning the statue to France was "totally fine by him."

And Mindy Robinson, who describes herself as an “independent journalist, secret history buff, Anti-Government Libertarian, and host of “Conspiracy Truths” on “America Happens,” was also hit by the French politician’s criticism.

"I must have missed the part where the Statue of Liberty says: 'Give me your rapists, child sex traffickers, gang bangers... and make the people who live there pay for it all,'" she said, adding: "The French have a knack for criticizing us, when their whole country has gone to hell because of mass migration."

Another account, described in its profile as a "MAGA MAGA", shared a mocked image of the Statue of Liberty standing in the pouring rain with her face in her palms, with the caption: "Statue of Liberty after discovering that France wants her back." /Telegraph/