I'm John Baxter dealing with the French demand by a left-wing politician, we're told,

to return the Statue of Liberty. No, you can't have the statute of liberty back. White House tells France,

according to a story in the London Times. I had missed it entirely

until I read my London Times today. The White House has firmly rejected the suggestion from a French

politician that the Statue of Liberty should be handed back to Paris. Raphael Gluckman, a member

of the European Parliament, and co-founder of a small left-wing party in France told the supporters on Sunday

that the gift given by France to America almost 140 years ago should be returned. Joe,

you are in London. Are you experiencing anti-Americanism in any fashion whatsoever? Giving the

Statue of Liberty back seems a spectacular moment.

Well, I think that what I have observed over here is that people are actually pretty good

at separating out the Trump administration from America in general, which in a way is

kind of healthy.

I think that there is an understanding that certainly a lot of Americans voted for him.

And Europeans just find that completely unfathomable, even as insurgent parties on the right and left continue gaining ground over here.

But I think that there is also this understanding that the Trump administration exists separately

from quote unquote America, and that colors a lot of attitudes over here.

And frankly, I think that it's probably a result of the fact that Europeans do consume

a lot of American news media, including a lot of what we Americans would understand

as left-wing or liberal outlets that are sure to report on all of the people within America

who are opposed to Trump.

So I think that, you know, you do have that baseline understanding, but you also have a lot

of politicians like this French gentleman, apparently,

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