Welcome to this week’s delve into European coverage of the US elections. Links to non-English sources go to GoogleTranslate versions, whereas the excerpts below have been humanly translated. Messages about malformed requests can be cleared by clearing cache and cookies a lot of the time.
Another week when most of the coverage has been of Trump being revolting. I’ve already read far too much about it, and I’m not going to rehash much of it in this diary. I hope it’s needless to say that “appalled” is about the least extreme adjective to describe the tone of the hundreds of thousands of words expended on the subject, although I will concede that some have been rather more vitriolic than the editorials in the 200 or so US papers which have condemned the orange shitstain. So most of what follows is about other things.
But certainly not all, because the other side of the coin is that Michelle Obama has been widely hailed as having delivered the best speech of the campaign so far.
Hanne Skartvelt of Norway's VG says:
Yesterday America's first lady attacked Trump - on behalf of herself and all other women in the United States. In a speech in New Hampshire, she told the audience that she takes it personally when Donald Trump talks about women the way he does. She gets angry and hurt.
Trump reduces women to sex and body, saying indirectly that they are not worth anything either intellectually or otherwise. Michelle Obama describes his behavior as offensive towards women, and she is afraid of the signals it sends if Trump’s treatment of women will set the standard for children and youth.
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The crowd cheers, while the vast majority of women are turning away from him. USA is divided. Not just between Democrats and Republicans, but also between men and women. Hillary Clinton has now 50 percent of the female vote, Donald Trump has 33 percent. Measurements show that if only men voted, Donald Trump would win. If only women voted, Hillary Clinton would win the election in a landslide.
Hillary does better and better among women each day that passes. Trump must win some of them over to him if he is to have the slightest chance of winning. Nothing of what he is doing now pulls in that direction. On the contrary.
The majority of women agree with Michelle Obama. Enough is enough.
Patricia Dreyer in Der Spiegel offers a lovely portrait of Michelle and what the future may hold:
Michelle Obama is everywhere. She shows her Beyoncé moves in the car pool karaoke show. She cuddles with George W. Bush at a museum opening. Above all, she campaigns for Hillary Clinton. She can inspire young people left cold by Clinton. She speaks about subject - such as Donald Trump bragging about sexual assaults on women - that are taboo for Clinton because she is biased by the past of her husband. Obama's speech on Thursday in which she threw a passionate "Enough" at Trump was immediately hailed as historic.
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At the Democratic Party Congress in July this year, she gave an outstanding speech. It was her best. She danced elegantly with Donald Trump and his hate campaign without even mentioning his name. It marked a battle cry of the Clinton campaign: "When they go low, we go high" - when the others show their worst side, we show our best.
And finally, as many Afro-American activists have said, she has placed her own biography in relation to the American history of racism and discrimination, to everyday life in the USA: her ancestors were slaves, now she is a first lady from the White House “which was built by slaves" as her daughters, "two beautiful, smart, black young women" play there on the lawn with their dogs.
The future, according to Obama's message, belongs to young people like their daughters. Change is possible.
And the pictures with the article are pretty splendid too.
Here’s a fine commentary from Andrea Köhler in the NZZ:
The stereotypical formula of the "anxious father," presented by the Republican senator Mitch McConnell ( "the father of three daughters") to Ted Cruz in a prayer-mill-like manner, Jeb Bush, faute de mieux, his granddaughters. Only that these gentlemen do not care about the welfare of women who are not part of the family. Scott Garrett, the Republican Congressman, who, in his criticism of Trump's latest coup "as the husband and father of two daughters", was in his position as a politician in every case against the right to equal pay, the compulsory insurance of mammograms and legal protection against domestic violence.
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But perhaps all of this is soon to come to an end. Perhaps after the 44th male president, a woman will soon be able to clear away the debris that this election campaign has left behind. Whether you like Hillary Clinton or not, the first contender in the US against an incorrigible sexist and prototypical protagonist of the crumbling patriarchal order, gives this election campaign a symbolic quality. On Twitter under the hashtag #PussyGrabsBack there are menacing kittens to feed, with the promise that the women will bite back on 8 November. It could be that Pussycat has a vagina dentata with predator canines.
And there’s much, much more in the same vein. But I’d much rather look at some of the other stuff that’s out there.
For instance, try this piece from Aftenposten by Jørgen Lohne:
Global Times (GT), a nationalist tabloid mouthpiece of the [Chinese Communist] party, stated a few months ago Donald Trump is an example of why democracy does not work. Americans know that elections can not alter their lives, so therefore they vote in rage and support Trump. GT warns: “Mussolini and Hitler came to power at elections. A serious lesson for Western democracy.”
In Russia the US elections are interpreted as a good example of why it is not necessary to introduce democracy on "the Western model."
“Democracy worldwide is in danger”, writes Andrej Desnitskij in the online newspaper Gazeta.ru . The newspaper goes so far as to say that "it looks as if the sun is setting on Western democracies."
“The choice of the most powerful democracy in the world just gets worse and worse. It makes people wonder whether such forms of western democracy are fit for purpose”, writes Gazeta.ru.
The US presidential circus is being used as evidence in the Putin-controlled media that Western democracy does not work.
“Do humanity a favor and vote for Trump”, said the popular Russian nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said in an interview with Reuters .
His initiative illustrates how Russian Kremlin-loyal politicians have been able to revel in the American election campaign.
“Vote for Hillary - it means war. There will be a short film. It will be Hiroshima and Nagasaki over everything”, said Zhirinovsky.
Underlying the main message of Putin-controlled television channels and PR channels is that democracy - as in the US and the West - is leading to chaos, anarchy and war.
Contenius has unearthed more Russian madness in the reliably awful Zaftra.
Trump: The New Name Of Freedom
November 8th, the day of the U.S. Elections, is moving inexorably closer.
There is just one more debate between the champion of a World Government, Hillary Clinton, and the spokesman for the will of ordinary Americans, Donald Trump, the real representative of America. Soon everything will be decided.
In these elections, for the first time this century, Americans are addressing the fundamental question: what is the future of the United States? This question was first addressed during the War of Independence, when Free Masons raised a revolt against the British crown. It was addressed for a second time in the Civil War, when the universalist Republican north, driven by liberal progressivism, invaded the democratic South, because most people in the Confederate South favored slavery and saw in the initiatives of Lincoln an attempt to usurp States' authority. It was addressed a third time by the fundamentally important 14 points of President Woodrow Wilson, when after World War I he declared that the United States would take on a unilateral mission to be the guarantor of democracy and liberalism on a global scale. That is when the traditionally isolationist America turned to imperial expansion, taking over from the former metropolis of Great Britain, which, in turn became the new periphery, this time of the American Empire.
U.S. success in the 20th century only strengthened the belief of the globalist elite in the U.S. that it could do no wrong, and the collapse of the USSR in 1991 marked the establishment of a unipolar world order. The proclamation of a World Government, which the Masonic lodges had sought for centuries, seemed now on the verge of being realized. The United States no longer had any serious rival, and neoconservatives - former Trotskites - announced the coming of a New American Century. The building of a global American Empire entered into its final phase.
All of the candidates, both Democrats and Republicans, share this agenda. All, that is, but Donald Trump. The current situation is unique. Trump is the true and absolute American. For him, freedom is always the freedom of choice, freedom of speech and freedom of action. Little did the elites imagine that this could happen, they who play by the rules of political correctness. Trump says, if it goes against my will and my mind, I will reject it. Or, as stated in New Hampshire's motto “Live Free or Die.”
But [Trump's policies] are not compatible with the continuation of the current course. The U.S. hates all peoples and nations of the world, even its allies. Some are still afraid and dependent, while others are not. And at the head of those who are not afraid and not dependent is Putin's Russia. For World Government, Russia is the main enemy. But not for Donald Trump. Is Russia encroaching on the U.S.? Does Russia challenge the U.S.'s territorial integrity? Does it undermine the economic power of other countries? Not in the least. Putin fights the [Islamic State]? And rightly so! Putin, in rejecting World Government and insisting on sovereignty, is just following the American way, of freedom first of all. Perhaps this “tough guy” is not the enemy, but a friend and ally - if, of course, America will once again be great. Great and free.
This is why Donald Trump is condemned. It turns out that what the world elite of bankers and globalists hates most of all is … freedom. It's outer face is the face of Putin, and its internal face is the face of Trump.
But the most important thing is already irreversible. The United States will never again be what it once was. Trump has started a new American Revolution. A new revolution for freedom. This time for freedom from the manic globalist elite. And it's like releasing a genie from a bottle. It can't be put back in. And Trump himself and his followers after the elections will not go away. American society has felt the taste of freedom again. Freedom to decide, to choose, to speak and act. So now it comes to this: either a Trump victory in the election or Trump's new revolution. For your freedom and ours, dear American brothers....
Let’s leave the Russians and find an American loony. There has long been talk of Texas seceding, but what about California? Julie Connan has our first report from the #EUROPE GOES US project:
At a time when London is coming to terms with Brexit, one man wouldn’t be discouraged by the task. “California would be better off than the United Kingdom. We would be more careful with our economy as 25-40% depends on international trade”, claims Marcus Ruiz Evans, one of the leaders of Yes California, which advocates the Golden State's independence.
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The movement, which has 10 permanent members and 12,000 likes on Facebook, but which claims to have 5 million Californian supporters, justifies its separatism with the fact that California is the “most diversified and avant-garde place on the planet”.
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But, just a few days before the presidential elections, Marcus, 39, isn't delusional about his cause. “Whether it’s Trump or Clinton, it won't change the way Californians are treated”. In fact, this militant with Mexican, English and Indian roots will not vote, but he is convinced that “if Trump is elected, Californians will seek secession immediately!”
David Haeberli talked to some tourists in DC:
I have come to the end of my journey in the United States. The words of Harry Wilson, a professor at Roanoke College in Virginia come back to me: “Our country is more divided than ever, I don’t know how we ended up here.”
Are Americans worried too? What better place to ask them than at the White House?
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Finally, there are those who – almost – don’t care about the election; they don’t expect anything from it. Like the Krood family from Chicago. According to them, the winner won't change much. Hillary, “who is at least a decent human being”, says Mrs Krood, will continue to do what she has always done, and if it’s Trump, “people will talk about something else soon enough”, says Mr Krood. “In Chicago, the Cubs’ victory had a much bigger impact than the presidential election. We have been waiting our whole lives for that!” concludes one of the young adults who made the trip with them.
Julie Connan again:
Eli Attie, 48, was President Clinton’s advisor and Vice-President Al Gore’s Principal Private Secretary and speechwriter during his presidential campaign in 2000. He then moved to Hollywood and became the scriptwriter and producer of the series The West Wing (set in the White House). I met him in his office in Paramount Studios.
As the series’ writer, could you have come up with a storyline like this election?
No. No one could have imagined a major party’s candidate saying that they would imprison their opponent if they were elected. When we write series, we always differentiate between what’s real and what seems real. We can even tell real stories: for The West Wing I sometimes used things that had happened to me during Al Gore’s campaign. People said: “Woah. If you put that in your show, the audience will think you’re making it up!” That’s what’s happening now: our reality is stranger and more dangerous than fiction.
David Haeberli again, on going to church with Tim Kaine:
“If you love God, what have you got to fear?” When Reverend James Arsenault began his sermon on Sunday with this rhetorical question, I wondered if I hadn’t seen the woman two pews in front of me murmur to herself: “...Mike Pence?”. Tim Kaine, vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket, visited St Elizabeth church on Sunday to re-energise before the debate between the two opposing vice-presidential candidates on Tuesday in Farmville, against Republican Mike Pence. “I am calm”, he declared after the service to the journalists waiting outside for him.
Yes, it is a bit old, but it’s still valid.
Let’s leave the US for minute and visit Mexico in the company of El Pais:
Almost a month before the United States presidential election , Mexican cinema is mobilized against the possibility that Donald Trump occupies the Oval Office for the next four years. The latest voice to join in has been the actor Diego Luna, who has shown his desire for US Latinos register to vote and to do so against the controversial Republican candidate. "I hope this is the election in which the Latin American community come out, register, vote and make clear that their voice counts," said the actor in an interview with Efe agency in Paris, where he confessed to feeling "panic" …
The film director also called for a response from "all sane people who believe in celebrating diversity, understanding they are part of something bigger which borders do not define" Humanity.
Here’s a video clip from Le Monde. It’s subtitled in French, because the people are speaking in English. It’s only a minute or so long, but it’s quite fun.
Dunno if you’ve seen this one already, but The Scotsman picked up on this one:
Here’s Donald Trump as you’ve never seen him before - recreated as a pumpkin. Anonymous Twitter user Marcher Lord, from Northamptonshire, posted a photo of their Hallowe’en creation simply captioned ‘Donald Trumpkin’.
The halloween favourite was initially meant to resemble his mother-in-law but after it was hollowed out, Marcher realised it looked more like the American billionaire businessman.
You can go look at the picture yourself.
In the Irish Times, Dave Hannigan makes an instructive comparison:
Donald Trump’s most notorious WWE cameo came at Wrestlemania 23 back in 2007. In a contest styled “The Battle of the Billionaires”, he and Vince McMahon, in the manner of grand old plutocrats, each nominated a black wrestler to duel it out on their behalf. As the bout between Umaga and Bobby Lashley ebbed and flowed as per pre-ordained instructions, Trump pranced around the perimeter of the ring, feigning anger one minute, bemusement the next, and indulging in some especially mediocre attempts at hamming it up for the cameras.
At one point, in the worst tradition of pantomime theatre, he even launched a “sneak” attack on an unsuspecting McMahon, replete with a few badly pulled rabbit punches. For a time, the pair of them rolled around the floor in their bespoke suits, looking, for all the world, like two intoxicated businessmen brawling at the end of an evening about some obtuse commercial bragging rights. Which is kind of exactly what they were.
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In the ring, the wrestler must put on a face, pretend to be something he isn’t and try to dupe the public into thinking the cartoon violence is authentic. He must cultivate a larger than life persona fuelled by a heady cocktail of braggadocio and bloviating, and hope this will persuade pre-pubescent kids who don’t know any better and overgrown man children who should that he is, in fact, the real deal. Sound familiar?
McMahon has used this formula to part fools from their cash. Trump is deploying the same shtick in his bid for the White House. A cynic might venture he may have been emboldened in terms of his grander career ambition by his experience in the WWE Universe. After all, if there are enough gullible rubes out there willing to fork over $59.95 on pay-per-view to watch pretend combat involving steroid-fuelled behemoths, that very constituency is surely vulnerable to a snake oil salesman capable of delivering the smack talk of a deranged demagogue.
Let’s wander off somewhere else — to Miami, where Ansgar Graw meets a Cuban:
Alexandro, who has just bought cigars in his lunch break and is now striding back to his office near Calle Ocho, is pleased about the new trade facilitation measures. "I'll soon be able to smoke Monte Cristo," he says. What does he think of Trump's announcement that he would revert to an embargo policy? "I think it's absurd," says the thirty-year-old Cuban. "It didn't achieve anything the first time." Alexandro ponders a moment and then hints at how the election campaign is dividing Cuban families: "But my dad probably thinks that Trump's announcement is a good thing."
And to Virginia University in Charlottesville, yet again with David Haeberli:
Hillary Clinton is thought to have the vote of the Millennials, also known as Generation Y. According to an IPSOS survey in August, Hillary is 36 points ahead of Trump in this age category. So, after adoring Grandpa Sanders, an unsuccessful Democratic candidate in the primary, have youngsters moved on to Granny Clinton?
A day on the Virginia University campus, in Charlottesville, helped to clarify the situation. According to the survey, 25% will not vote, or do not know who to vote for. Like Ian O’Donnell, an engineering student. “I was sure I was going to vote for Trump. But now I don’t really know.”
And Trump is getting criticism from some unusual quarters, as Switzerland’s 20min reports:
The richest presidential candidate in American history does not look very good. Is this connected with the character of Donald Trump?, asks the website Jezebel . They cited the Republican’s book "Trump 101" with the statement: "beauty and elegance are based on a personal style that comes from deep within. However much you try, you can not buy style.”
Then Jezebel speaks with an expert, and comes to another conclusion: Trump likes it too comfortable. Dominic Sebag-Montefiore, the aristocratic designer at Edward Sexton in London's Savile Row, recognizes the expensive brands Trump wears: Brioni and Martin Greenfield Clothiers. But he chose the wrong suits.
I’m going to finish with a three-page piece about the use of social media from Sueddeutscher Zeitung. Somewhat surprisingly, the links at the bottom to the other pages actually work.
The American election campaign is not a suitable measure for the political maturity of the country, but it certainly is for technical progress and the development of communication systems.
Compared to previous candidates’ ventures into new technology, social media has assumed a much more sinister form in 2016: broken, uninhibited, unforgiving. In the excited real-world world, a future beckons, in which two camps are all but waging civil war, even if only with words. Is that exceptional or permanent?
I found it very thought-provoking and, if the Tsar will forgive me, I’m even a bit concerned. Not about the result on Nov 8, but about the future of politics in free democracies — and of a lot else on which I’ve spent most of my life relying as being important, like truth.
That’s not a particularly optimistic note to end on, but with Hillary and Tim there’s a chance that at least the White House won’t be lying every time it opens its official mouth.
Now get chatting.