He made the sudden leap from a comfortable retreat in the United States to a stone villa in the French countryside as a vengeful Donald Trump faces the possibility of winning the presidential election. For friends and former colleagues in Washington, D.C., the reason was suddenly timely.
In private conversations with McDermott, they asked how they could measure the seriousness of President Trump’s increasingly serious threat to the country’s democratic foundations and, in some cases, to themselves and their families. I’m wondering if it’s okay. “My friends are calling me now and saying they’re scared to do what I did, but they’re also scared to stay.”
he says to them: “If you can afford it, buy a second home that will be a safe haven, whether it’s France, Spain, Portugal, or wherever,” he says.
I first heard these concerns decades ago, when I was a reporter living in Cambodia, and my friends, worried about what would happen when their country’s brutal war ended, were forced to leave the country and wait far away. I was asking if I should. I never expected to hear Americans express similar fears. Or express yourself.
Mr. McDermott is unlikely to be the person to speak out about this dilemma. The 87-year-old psychiatrist-turned-Democrat loved his 28 years in Congress and his previous 14 years as a Washington state representative. His home on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill offers views of Elliott Bay and the Cascade Mountains. He currently lives in a town of 661 people in the middle of the flat Médoc Peninsula.
He disagrees that his actions can be considered unpatriotic.He served in the Navy as a psychiatrist during the Vietnam War Then I put on my veterans’ jacket and walk to L’Auberge du Clocher, the village’s only wonderful restaurant. He thinks about the threats to American democracy, but mostly about the lessons he learned in this village about the brutality of America’s growing inequality.
Historically, France has been a haven for desperate exiles and expatriates. Mr. McDermott is not one of them. He can come and go as he pleases and also has the luxury of maintaining a home in Seattle for annual visits. He’s still an American.
His motivation for moving here is political: universal health care. Respect for women’s reproductive rights, including abortion. The issue on which Mr. McDermott won his first election in 1970. serious gun control.
These were his passions during his time in Congress. Until he came to this village, he did not realize how deeply he felt about the state’s responsibility for the health of its people. There, under the French system, health care is taken for granted, as is clean water and functioning sewage systems.
“It felt like I had walked through an invisible door. Now I saw and felt what it was like to live in a community where everyone could go to the doctor. Children were affected by gun violence. A place where you don’t get slaughtered. That changes everything.”
That’s not what McDermott thought when he vacationed in southwestern France in 2017, inspired by Martin Walker’s novel Bruno. Now here, McDermott has done something completely out of character. This man, who always planned his life in five-year increments, bought a classic cottage on his second day in the city, saying he would turn it into a vacation home. Then he bought a hectare of vineyards in a wine cooperative.
Until he was stranded there in the middle of the pandemic, he still considered Seattle his first home. A neighbor had to leave the village to help his family and asked a prominent American politician and doctor to care for his three baby goats. A bucket of water was brought to the pen every day, and the goats ate grass and weeds there. Taking care of the goats made him attached to the village. “From that moment on, I belonged.”
Thus, a slow transition to a healthier, more humane life became a potential refuge from a second Trump term.
For now, McDermott is willing to pay a high price. He miscalculated how difficult it would be to reinvent himself in a community where his past positions and accomplishments in Congress were almost meaningless. He is a twice-divorced bachelor who lives alone and suffers from feelings of loneliness. He misses his children and grandchildren. His French is bad.
His daily conversations with friends and politicians in the United States provide him with bridges and connections that allow him to stay on top of issues. From the comfort of his first-floor study, he writes emails and sends money to campaigns with his one goal: “We can’t beat Trump.” He is a member of Democrats Abroad, has poured money into Democratic campaigns, and hopes to vote for President Biden in November.
Mr. McDermott’s experience raises serious questions for Americans, especially those in positions of power. Is the United States facing such a dangerous situation that it would be foolish not to have a backup plan? Or is it an exaggeration to imagine that the country will slide into authoritarian rule, leading to violence, retribution, and repression?
In his first term, President Trump encouraged chaos and violence and undermined fundamental rights and pillars of American democracy. Now he has stepped up his game and is openly seeking the unfettered power of the presidency. He has said he wants to end the country’s longstanding alliance with the United States, use his military to quell protests and ignore election results that did not go his way.
Faced with this situation, McDermott certainly has the right to live out his remaining years as he sees fit. But I hope that people of his principles and talent will stay in the United States and protect us from these threats to our democracy.
I’m not the only former war correspondent who saw the violence inspired by President Trump’s first term and feared he would push our country into armed conflict.
On January 6, 2021, police barricaded themselves in front of their Capitol homes to thwart the potential escape of an out-of-control mob. I watched the robot move along the sidewalk in search of a pipe bomb planted around the corner. What country was I in?
President Trump said these violent insurrectionists were patriots and promised to free them if he became president.
I don’t take anything for granted.
The last of McDermott’s belongings arrived in France this month. He now has things he cannot live without: paintings, music, and books. Even if his worst fears come true, he has a place of refuge.