Romuald Sciora: “American Democracy Will Never Fully Recover From What Happened With Donald Trump” - Le Figaro
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According to the French-American essayist, the 47th president is setting precedents that weaken the United States and will not disappear completely, even if a Democrat takes office.
Romuald Sciora, a French national and naturalized U.S. citizen, lives in New York, where he is an associate research fellow at the IRIS and director of its Political and Geostrategic Observatory of the United States. He also collaborates with the Academy of Political Science at Columbia University. He has just published “Lettre ouverte à Trump d’un Américain de papier” (“An Open Letter to Trump from a Naturalized American”).
LE FIGARO. — Is this short, incisive text the work of someone disappointed in America, or is it more like your own “J’accuse” [Émile Zola’s 1898 open letter]?ROMUALD SCIORA. — A bit of both. It is the letter of a disillusioned lover who reproaches America for what it has become by allowing an ultra-radical far right — which I call “crypto-fascist,” meaning masked, “without the boots and black shirts,” but far more radical than what is generally referred to as the far right in France — to come to power.
You review the damage Trump has caused to the rule of law and the American social fabric: What do you see as his worst offense?Undoubtedly, betraying his own values; until 2015, he had championed progressive positions and considered running as a Democrat, before realizing that the audience of his television show, “The Apprentice,” voted Republican. He betrayed himself out of sheer ambition and, worst of all, in order to return to power in 2024, formed an alliance with a reactionary fringe he once detested.
Does he have any merits?Yes, of course. First, he proved to our Western democracies that, when there is political will, we can change things. Trump certainly cannot be accused of inaction. Another important virtue: He is a courageous man, as he demonstrated during the assassination attempts against him.
You point to the marginalization of Congress, the instrumentalization of the justice system, the war waged against the media and universities, and the transformation of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a political police force: Does that all form a coherent policy?There is indeed a genuine strategy at work here. “Trump II” is not the disorganized, inexperienced and spineless president of his first term. He has become more radicalized, especially during his four years in the opposition, by aligning himself with ideologues and high-level intellectuals; I am thinking of Vice President JD Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and others. All of those people came to power with him in 2025, bringing very clear objectives that the president endorses: domestically, to establish a semi-authoritarian regime modeled on Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, and above all to lead a cultural counter-revolution that is dubbed “anti-woke” but goes far beyond fighting the excesses of wokism; and, internationally, an equally clear agenda, which can be summarized as the desire to dismantle the post-1945 multilateral system. So nothing about it is erratic, aside from a few remarks by the president that serve as a smokescreen.
You speak of “kleptocracy” and “politics with mafia-like overtones”?The corruption and blurring of lines we are witnessing in the United States are unprecedented at this level of government, all the more so because it is being done openly: influence peddling with foreign powers, conflicts of interest involving cryptocurrencies or AI, and even merchandise derived from the presidency, etc. — all while the Constitution prohibits any personal enrichment derived from public office. But above all, the lack of a response turns this issue, which might seem secondary, into a central moral challenge.
Reading your open letter, one wonders if a cancer is eating away at the United States?Yes, but the cancer is not Donald Trump; it began several decades ago, when the “new right” swept aside the traditional Republican right. It was conservative, to be sure, but entirely respectable and produced very good presidents, such as Richard Nixon or George H. W. Bush. It barely exists today. Donald Trump is the most visible symptom of this cancer. And even when the symptom disappears, the cancer will not be cured. In the long run, it could destroy America.
Why do you anticipate “a very likely challenge to the midterm election results”?Because that challenge has already begun. Speaking at Mount Rushmore in early July, Trump referred to the “communist menace” engulfing the United States. He then accused the Chinese of rigging the elections to ensure his defeat. All of that is intended to justify a very likely challenge. That could lead to several scenarios, from declaring a state of emergency — the least credible option — to refusing to recognize the results, triggering a constitutional crisis that the Supreme Court — which largely favors Trump — would have to settle. If Trump loses the midterm elections in November, he will be hounded by investigations, prosecutions and threats of impeachment, and he will seek to bring Congress to heel. That cannot last two years without a major crisis between the executive and legislative branches. Let us not forget that Trump is the only person in U.S. history to have seriously attempted a coup d’état.
You are just as critical of the Democrats, who are “largely blind to the issues”?The Democratic Party has never been more deserving of its donkey mascot. It encompasses a broad spectrum of opinions, ranging from the radical left to the center, to put it simply. These people do not have much in common and are largely unaware of the civilizational challenges of the moment, of the crisis facing the United States and Western societies. They are focused on the next election and their internal squabbles. If they win the midterms, it will be more out of rejection of Trump than out of support for their political agenda. But if, after January, they simply launch investigations against the president, while neglecting the issues that truly matter to Americans, the public will turn away from them again. Although I am a Democrat, I do not trust the current Democratic Party to get the country back on track.
On the international stage, you accuse Trump of “racketeering diplomacy.”I believe Trump has turned the United States into the first rogue superpower in modern history. His doctrine prioritizes bilateral relations governed by the law of the jungle, where alliances are merely circumstantial, and he disregards international organizations and justice. But he also goes further: punitive tariffs against Brazil because of Jair Bolsonaro’s imprisonment, the removal of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela to seize control of the oil — to be clear, no one is crying over Maduro — or even the threat to annex Greenland for selfish interests — these are the methods of a mafia racketeer.
Is Trump adapting to a world where anything goes, or is he promoting it?He is accelerating it. The crisis of democracy we are experiencing is part of a historic shift that goes back much further. Trump is simply riding that wave. But he is also accelerating the decline of his own country, with a foreign policy that has only exacerbated the United States’ international isolation. Just look at how Washington’s allies are seeking new partners: Canada is looking to Europe, and the Middle East and Africa are turning to China.
Do you understand why Trump is meddling in the high school student protests in France, blaming them on “Islam and immigration”?Trump is a communications genius: He exploits what is happening elsewhere for electoral gain. Do not forget that France is very popular among Americans, perhaps their favorite foreign country. Yet when you read the American press these days, you get the impression it is 1793.
You write that Trump is being carried by a current that exceeds him: What will outlast him?A great many things. Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, rightly said that the world we’ve known for 80 years is not coming back; it is over. American democracy will never fully recover from what has happened. Many precedents have been set. Even if we have another Democratic interval, the cracks running through American democracy today will probably never be fully repaired. And everything suggests that they will continue to grow.
