Er ma gerd. Today's his inauguration. What does everyone think of this guy?
I could write literally thousands of words about my views on Trump, but instead I'd rather just mention one set that I have been thinking about today: British/European perceptions of the US.
There was a lot of disappointment in the UK when George W Bush was elected president. There was a general perception that this guy was dumb, arrogant and dangerous. He was seen as a privileged clown, and much of his presidency served to reinforce that view. This view extended to the American people in general. During my teenage years it was normal for everyone to consider Americans stupid, arrogant and simple. The president was seen as a reflection of the country and its people.
When Obama was elected that opinion started to change. He had huge approval ratings in the UK and Western Europe, everyone saw him as a sign that times were changing. Especially when compared against our leaders who were seen as ineffectual, lifeless, and belonging to a perrenially boring elitist political class, Obama was seen as a shining light of much needed humour, intelligence and resistance. He was seen to embody that which he so loudly proclaimed to provide: hope. Even his critics this side of the pond tended to situate their negative views not in relation to him as a person, but to the idea of the system as insurmountable, that his message was all marketing and affirmedly quixotic. He soon won most of us over, however, as he showed that even in the face of repeated Republican senate roadblocks he could genuinely deliver change. Once again, this view extended to America as a whole. Americans came to be seen as more progressive, astute, and intellectually discerning than before.
We all know how Trump is viewed in Western Europe. I read somewhere recently that in France and Germany he has close to a 90% disapproval rating. The interesting thing is, at least from what I've seen, people aren't seeing him as representative of America. I've heard no one suggest that America and its people are as stupid, racist, bigoted or regressive as Trump. Rather, the perception of the US that Trump has inspired in many of us is that it is a fundamentally divided country. It might be a result of my age that I was perhaps blind to the nuance in British perceptions of the US during the Bush and Obama administrations, but I truly think this is more or less the case. To many British people there is no longer an 'American people'. Just as we struggle with our own national identity following years of debate around multiculturalism and our international outlook, compounded by the Brexit vote last year, we see America increasingly as a precarious union, one in which there are enduring race, class, and political divisions.
Anyway that's enough from me. What do you guys/girls think of him? And what are the general feelings in your countries?