Escape Hatch - Repatriation Edition

Maybe there is no escape.

Dear Readers - I’m at a loss. Carolyn and I return to the US in under two weeks. In the five short months we’ve been here in France the country we are returning to has changed radically. It was no accident that we named this newsletter “Escape Hatch” but I didn’t imagine the slope to authoritarianism was going to be THIS freaking slippery. I have spent the last few days reading articles about the Trump Administration (including Vice President Vance) lecturing our European allies to, “Let the Nazis have their say, you guys!”

I’ve been reading as much news as I can, while also distracting myself with the bounty we enjoy. I fear we are on the verge of wrecking it all. Will America abandon its allies and shift towards Russia/Putin, and will that mean an end to the prosperity and stability we have come to think of as normal? Will we slide into another world war and/or global authoritarianism?

Fresh tea on offer at the Marché Sous l’Acqueduc des Arceaux last weekend. I really need a relaxing cup of tea, lately.

The internal guardrails of American democracy are being dismantled rapidly. The Trump administration is on the verge of deciding to ignore court rulings it doesn’t like. Trump is talking more and more frequently about a third term, even though he is constitutionally limited to two terms. One of his recurring (and effective) strategies is to start talking about controversial (illegal) steps early so that when he finally makes his move, people aren’t shocked; it’s already old news when he does it. He’s also quoting Napoleon, “He who saves his country does not violate any law” - begging the question: saves it from what? Pronouns? The Gulf of Mexico?

Look at this fantastic bread! Spelt loaves, seed bread, sourdough - all available, all fresh. Our German and Canadian friends (a couple) turned us onto this baker.

As I walk around Montpellier, I often imagine what it might have been like in a French village 100 years ago. There were probably lots of bread bakers, tea merchants, grocers, butchers, cobblers. There’d be injured veterans, survivors of the first world war. I then imagine those same streets 80 years ago full of soldiers shooting at each other, the rubble of bombed out buildings, bullet pock marks on the walls, food shortages, and uncertainty about life and the direction of humanity. Do we have to learn those lessons again, do people have to endure those hardships and shattered, shortened lives again?

The US actions around Ukraine are particularly terrifying. The Trump administration scheduled a start for peace talks with Putin — which could be a good thing, but they excluded Ukraine and our European allies. Secretary of Defense Hegseth gave away the farm before talks even started by saying a return to the 2014 borders was unrealistic. An envoy of the Trump administration went to Ukraine and asked for half the country’s mineral wealth. Pause here and read that last sentence again. We want half your mineral wealth, said the US to Ukraine. (They said no.)

Look at the beautiful, locally caught, fresh fish you can get. This is the kind of transactional relationship we can all get behind: I give you my hard earned-money, you give me the fish you caught and brought to market.

Are the days of America standing by its allies to isolate the rogue states of the world truly over? We used to gladly spend American money to ensure economic and political stability. We used to understand that spending American dollars was preferable to spending American lives and that holding the line on international law was good for stability. Apparently, not anymore. Putin charges in with an army to take what he wants, and Trump charges in with a demand to exploit a weakened ally: give us half your mineral wealth. No guarantees in return.

It’s simplistic, I know, but I was raised to think the US were the good guys. We are far from perfect, and at times we’ve been downright awful, but we are supposed to be different. In one of Stephen Ambrose’s books he describes the 1940’s and a world at war. There were heavily armed young men all over the globe. People were terrified and they’d flee and hide when soldiers came to their area. Armed young men meant murder, rape, theft of your food and livestock, looting, and destruction of your home. But, Ambrose wrote, the Americans were different. When American soldiers came into a town, the people came out to greet them, when America came to your area it meant liberation, soldiers handed out chocolate bars, the Army fed people, American military doctors treated the sick and injured.

French girl with puppy and two American soldiers.

Our current actions, global and domestic, are not worthy of a country that likes to think of itself as great. Men who measure their greatness by their net worth and their ability to bend others to their will have been given the levers of power; they are brutish, hateful people and I fear no good will come of this path.

When we get back to Austin, I’m sure it will be eerie to see how much is the same even if I know the monster under the bed is real.

Peace be with you all, my friends.

Jusqu’a la prochaine fois,

Roberto & Carolyn