If you want to know what people in other countries think of our political process, go there and ask.
My husband and I just returned from a visit to Ireland. Before we even got on the plane, I was sitting in the airport chatting with a 20-something lady from Germany. She intrigued me because she was wearing a “Bernie Sanders” button. After chatting with her for a while, I said:
“You’re wearing a Sanders button, but you can’t vote here, right?”
“Yes, you’re right. I’m going home to Germany, but my boyfriend is from South Carolina and we worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign.”
“So, ” I asked her, “I am so interested in as to why so many people in Europe actually know so much about our politics?”
This is what she said:
“Because it’s hilarious!”she said gleefully with a big smile on her face. ” It’s like watching entertainment. We can’t believe you would even vote for someone like Donald Trump!”
Oh my.
But I figured that was just one young lady. And even though, I agreed that the stand-ups, talk show hosts, and pundits everywhere were practically orgasmic over the Donald Trump treasure chest of material that has fallen into their collective comedic lap, I was hoping that wasn’t the world view.
Or was I? I mean if all the planets completely misaligned on November 8, 2016 and somehow The Donald became The President, what would the world think or even do, for that matter? What would we do? How much comedy could one stand over four years?
But I didn’t have to go on a mission once I reached Ireland. The research subjects came to me every time we got in a taxi. Had I stayed longer in the pubs and drank more of those delicious milkshakes they like to call Guinness, I probably could have published a paper on this learned topic.
As soon as they heard our American accents, the taxi driver had only two questions:
“Where in America are you from?” and “Who are you voting for?”
The whole country was seemingly interested in our take on this dog and pony show we call the Presidential Race. And Ireland was in the midst of their own elections, which were apparently not nearly as entertaining!
Whilst laughing raucously in the freezing rain of Galway, where they hadn’t seen the sun for a month, the taxi driver chortled: ” and your Mr. Trump wants to build a wall to cut off Mexico, and make the Mexicans pay for it, does he? Does he not know that if the Mexicans had the money to pay for such a grand wall, they wouldn’t be coming to America for jobs? HAHAHHAHAHA!
And that my friends, is how they
“Just have to Laugh……….” in Europe and probably everywhere else!
©Cathy Sikorski 2016
