I know many that frequent these forums live in other countries.
What is your view of what is going on in the US?
What are your neighbors, friends, co-workers saying?
How is your local media covering the circular firing squad of American politics
How has your views, and those of neighbors, friends, co-workers changed about the US, since Trump was first elected, and since Biden was elected.
Is the US the laughingstock of the world? It would surprise me if we are not.
I'm from Denmark, born in 1979 and been raised in an academic family in one of the most privileged areas of Denmark and both my parents have voted for different socialist parties. I did so myself when I was younger but I'm now member of the social liberal party in Denmark. So growing up in a very political interested family, US has always been a topic for discussion. My parents had seen the Vietnam War and Civil rights movement and with view of the American culture as" bigger is always better", your gun laws and lack of social security/public health care, I was not imprinted with an overly positive view of the US society. On the other hand people with political views on the right side in Denmark were generally very positive towards US in the '80-'00.
At young age I mostly thought US to be a bit silly, and the first president I remember is Bush Sr. where I was very fascinated about the Gulf War, but also remember the feeling that something right.
Then came the Clinton years which were good, and the silly republicans used an insane amount of energy on a sexual relationship. This is were we saw the first glimpse of going from the old school hardliners to shrill "moralist" flaunting their double standards without even flinching.
Then Bush Jr. and we were laughing at why you had chosen him.
I think that most Europeans don't really understand how diverse a country US really is. I live in a country with less than 6 mio people and while we joke about country vs city, then we are really similar. So I think at some point I started getting more interested in who "these" Americans really are, that choose to elect such a man.
Then the Obama years and still more and more intrigued about why the republican party got more and more shrill and extreme, and finally resulting in voting for Trump and all that followed.
So my current view is that I really hope that the juridical system still works in US, as I would be very scared if the values and politicians that currently have power in the GOP got the power in US. So no I'm not laughing, maybe too late have we discovered that US can be corrupted and cannot guarantee the safety of our values.
Very few a laughing because it is too serious, but obviously we still find it fascinating and scary in the same way and can shake our heads in disbelief.
I think that politics in many regards are same all over the world, in that regard you get fed up with how things are done. However, the way the Danish parliament works, then most laws are actually backed by a majority of the parties, so we have a tradition of seeking consensus across political differences. So to me that is at least better than the division you are experiencing.
Facebook
Twitter