(REUTERS) – French President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday a victory by U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump could make politics more conservative around the world and said the real estate magnate made people “feel nauseous”.
A Trump victory in November could also affect France’s presidential election in the spring of 2017, said Hollande, who has not yet announced if he will seek reelection.
“If the Americans choose Trump, that will have consequences, because an American election is a world election,” the Socialist leader told journalists.
“It could lead to a very strong turn to the right in the world, or to a correction … the American campaign shows issues that will be reflected in the French campaign,” said Hollande, who will face strong competition from far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen if he chooses to run.
“A certain number of excesses have ended up making people feel nauseous – even in the United States – especially, as Donald Trump did, when criticises the memory of a soldier,” he said.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday called Trump “unfit” to become the U.S. head of state amid a bipartisan outcry following the Republican candidate’s feud with the parents of a U.S. Muslim soldier killed in Iraq in 2004.
Hollande said he was hearing “hurtful, humiliating comments” during the election campaign. Speaking about politicians in general, he said “they should be respected when they are respectable.”
(Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; Writing by Astrid Wendlandt; Editing by Tom Heneghan)
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.