I came across an editorial in a German publication I follow, Der Spiegel, and I found it interesting to see how at least some of our allies across the pond view what is happening today in the U.S.  Now, some will say they don’t care what other nations think, but that’s just wrong.  Our allies, especially, are important to us just as your neighbors down the street are important to you.  We are all living on the same planet and what one country does will affect others, especially as it relates to the environment, global conflicts, etc.  In times of trouble, we have their back, and they have ours, so it matters what they think.  Do they trust us right now?  How would they feel about Kamala Harris as the next president, or heaven forbid, Donald Trump?  I was surprised that the piece I read was as positive as it was, and I’ll be on the lookout for other views from our allies around the globe.  Meanwhile, take a look … what do you think?

Don’t Write Off America!

A DER SPIEGEL Editorial by Mathieu von Rohr¹

A second Trump administration presents real dangers to democracy in the United States. But there is still reason for optimism when looking at the future of the country.

29.07.2024, 19.22 Uhr

The political situation in the U.S. is looking increasingly like one of those fictional series the country regularly churns out. One incredible twist is followed by another: Just over 100 days before the election, the elderly U.S. president, who can barely articulate himself properly, decided to make way for his vice president. Now only she can block the path to power of a man with authoritarian tendencies who has just been shot by a mysterious would-be assassin.

These are anxiety-filled days for America’s allies. The center of the Western world is exhibiting dangerous internal instability. And the country has long been an unreliable trans-Atlantic partner, a fact that the presidency of Joe Biden merely covered up for a time.

Nothing can be said to sugarcoat the profound political crisis in the United States as the institutions of this more than 200-year-old democracy are showing significant signs of weakness. Nevertheless, now is a good time to remember one salient fact: This country has repeatedly demonstrated an admirable ability to reinvent itself in the greatest of crises. America is far from lost.

Is the euphoria that Kamala Harris has sparked in the liberal camp justified? It’s not clear. Harris doesn’t have much time to campaign, and there are doubts about her ability to defeat Donald Trump in November. If she succeeds, she will make history by becoming the country’s first female president. The hype surrounding Harris may not last, but it is a reminder that there is another America besides Trump’s America that is at least as big, and it is creative and vibrant.

After the failed assassination attempt, Trump has achieved the status of a saint in his own camp, but he remains unpopular with the majority of Americans. The rather lackluster speech he delivered at his own party’s convention demonstrated once again that there is no new Trump who can unite the country, but only the same old Trump – the angry, implacable, divisive one.

The result of the election, in other words, is open. Regardless of the outcome, we can allow ourselves a little American optimism for America. But this explicitly does not mean naively discounting the genuine dangers facing the country and its democracy.

Sometimes it helps to take a look back in time. The United States survived the Great Depression of the 1930s and emerged with a stronger economy. It emerged from the McCarthy era, when the government hunted down suspected communists, with a stronger democracy. Despite violent resistance from racists, the civil rights movement of the 1960s succeeded in securing equal rights before the law for Black Americans. After September 11, 2001, George W. Bush authorized torture and turned Guantanamo into a prison camp – but he was followed by Barack Obama, the first Black president. The Trump administration squeezed America’s institutions, but they withstood the pressure; and the country’s citizens eventually replaced him with Joe Biden, who has been the opposite of Trump.

Even if Trump were to win a second term in November, even if he were to realize his plan to subjugate the state apparatus and crack down on his political opponents, his efforts would be met by considerable resistance. Most Americans do not want an authoritarian regime.

Reactionary and liberal forces have always wrestled for the soul of America. And as justified as the concern is that political violence – or even civil war – could erupt in this country awash with weapons, extremely fierce battles have already been fought over its destiny without the country breaking apart.

Despite all its problems –polarization, inequality, the crisis of its political system – the United States is a uniquely innovative society. It continues to be highly attractive to immigrants from around the world. This may strengthen right-wing forces, but it also fuels the economy at the same time. With its tech companies, America is in a much stronger position than crisis-ridden Europe, where reactionary forces are also on the rise.

¹ Born in Lausanne (Switzerland) in 1978, he began his journalistic career at the “Oltner Tagblatt”. Studied history and German in Basel. Since 2000 it has been in the features section of the “Basler Zeitung”. From 2004 trained at the Henri Nannen Journalism School in Hamburg with stations at SPIEGEL, “ZEIT” and “Tages-Anzeiger-Magazin” (Zurich). Since 2006 he has been working in the foreign department of SPIEGEL, for which he has worked as a reporter around the world – in the 2006 Lebanon War, the drug war in Mexico, and the Arab Spring. At the end of 2011 he took over management of the Paris office. In 2014 he moved to Hamburg as deputy head of the international department. He has been head of the SPIEGEL foreign department since 2019.