Trump says France unrest is a ‘full-on revolution’ and warns Europe must change course or risk losing the EU

U.S. President Donald Trump described the unrest in France as a “full-on revolution” on Tuesday and warned that Europe needed to change its policies or risk losing the European Union.

Trump made the remarks while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on October 20, after announcing a federal anti-fraud whistleblower program with Vice President JD Vance.

“I have never seen anything like that in France,” Trump said. “That wasn’t a little bit of a riot. That wasn’t a little bit of a protest. That was a full-on revolution. And it continues.”

France has experienced some of its worst unrest in years following nationwide demonstrations over living costs, education and public services. About 550,000 people joined protests on Saturday, according to the Interior Ministry. Most demonstrated peacefully, while riots, looting and fires broke out in several cities. Trump’s description of the unrest as a “revolution” was his characterization.

Trump said “Europe has to change its ways” and later warned: “Europe has to straighten out their act. Otherwise, there won’t be a Europe left.” Calling for tougher immigration enforcement, he said European countries needed to remove people they did not want or “they’re not going to have a European Union.”

Turning to Russia and Ukraine, Trump portrayed Moscow as holding the battlefield advantage. “Russia is a big machine. They just keep grinding forward,” he said, adding that Russian forces had taken a large amount of territory.

Trump said Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky needed to want a settlement. “Ukraine has to want to settle this war. Zelensky has to want to settle this war,” he said, warning that otherwise the situation would “really” get worse.

He also criticized the scale of U.S. and European spending on Ukraine, saying Washington had received “nothing back except grief, death, tremendous monetary loss.”