A French politician has called on the US to give the Statue of Liberty back after suggesting that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants.”

But his assertion in a speech this weekend that some Americans "have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants" reflects the broad shockwaves that U.S. President Donald Trump's seismic shifts in foreign and domestic policy are triggering in France and elsewhere in Europe.

The White House responded by saying that “it's only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.”