Ihr dachtet wahrscheinlich, dass es das gewesen wäre mit politischen Posts nach der Präsiedentschaftswahl. Tja, falsch gedacht, denn da heute die offizielle Amtseinführung Donald Trumps als US-Präsident ansteht, dachte ich mir, dass man zu diesem Anlass auf jeden Fall nochmal das ein oder andere politische Wörtchen verlieren sollte. Doch im Gegensetz zum üblichen Ich-denke-ich-schreibe-ihr-lest, habe ich im heutigen Post mal anderen das Denken überlassen und bin nur als Abschreiberling involviert.
Daher stellte ich daraufhin ein paar Fragen zusammen und einige Aupairs und Ex-Aupairs aus verschiedenen Nationen erklärten sich dazu bereit, mir einen Einblick in ihre Gedanken und Gefühle anlässlich Trump's Wahlsieg zu geben.
All das vollzog sich größtenteils im November, Fragen und Antworten lagen somit schon für über zwei Monate bei mir rum und warteten nur darauf endlich veröffentlicht zu werden. Und als es plötzlich Ende November und schließlich Dezember wurde und ich mir dachte, dass der Wahlkampf nun auch nicht mehr so aktuell sei, beschloss ich, es einfach am 20.01. zu veröffentlichen, dem Tag der Amtseinführung.
Fragen und Antworten werden vorerst nur auf Englisch veröffentlicht werden, sollte ich jedoch noch von einer Welle der Übersetzungseuphorie heimgesucht werden, lasse ich es euch wissen und werde es nochmal auf Deutsch abtippen, wenigstens den groben Inhalt. Ich kann schonmal soviel vorab sagen, dass sich unter den Interviewten keine Vollblut-Trumpunterstützer befanden--die sieht man hier in den liberalen Neuenglandstaaten aber generell nicht so häufig, was seinen Wahlsieg umso unglaubwürdiger erscheinen lässt. Ich wäre während des Wahlkampfes wirklich gerne im mittleren Westen unterwegs gewesen, nur um die Mentalität der Menschen mal live mitzuerleben und um zu versuchen, zu verstehen, wie sie jemanden die Trump als ihren Präsidenten wählen konnten. Doch wir werden bald sehen, wohin das alles führt, überlassen wir nun den anderen Aupairs das Feld (=das unbeschriebene Blatt Papier) und sehen, was sie so zu sagen haben.
Info: ich stellte allen neun Fragen, entschied mich jedoch im Endeffekt dazu, nicht alle Antworten komplett zu veröffentlichen und sie teilweise zu kürzen/zusammenzufassen, da es mir sonst wahrscheinlich den Post gesprengt hätte (oder jeder Leser nach der Hälfte das Handtuch geworfen hätte).
Ach übrigens, habt ihr Obamas Abschiedsrede mitverfolgt? Bei Filmen/videographischen Dokumentationen sowieso nah am Wasser gebaut, musste ich natürlich gleich mal mitweinen, als ich die Tränen seiner Tochter Malia sah, hörte wie er sich bei Michelle bedankte und Amerikas Jugend dazu aufrief, sich für ihre Ideale und Träume einzusetzen. Während er reflektierte, was er während seiner Amtszeit alles erreicht hatte, fragte ich mich, wie das wohl bei Trump in vier/acht (hoffentlich vier!) aussehen wird--worauf wird er stolz zurückblicken? Werden das Errungenschaften sein, auf die auch der Großteil der amerikanischen Bürger stolz sein werden? Well.. Wir werden sehen. Und nun,
Interviews!
Hey there,
after the presidential election back in November and some emotional discussions in our aupair whatsapp group while counting the votes I got really interested in everybody's motives--why did we, young people from lots of different countries, care about America's election? Why did we all suddenly became politically interested even if Trump wasn't our homecountries' president elect? So I started asking questions to a couple of aupairs/former aupairs from Sweden, Spain, Poland, Germany and Colombia and thought you might be interested in their thoughts.
Enjoy!
**all names got changed**
Belinda, 21, ehemaliges Aupair aus Schweden
(Belinda, 21, former aupair from Sweden)
What was your first reaction when you heard that Donald Trump became president of the US?
>My first reaction was
probably irritation and sadness because I couldn't understand how America could
let this man become their next president.
How long
have you been following the electoral campaigns?
>I have not really
been following the campaigns, it hasn't really been in my interest. I've mostly
been watching the snapchat filter videos from the debates and the parodies but
of course also some other videos about their opinions and arguments. 9/10 of
those have been videos of Trump. To be honest I don't know exactly what they
stand for but I've heard about the bad things - such as the wall between the US
and Mexico, about the muslims and about Trump's view of women.
I did not watch any
of the debates, only shorter videos. I had in mind a couple of times to watch
them but due to the time difference I didn't want to stay up all night to watch
it and then never found the time to watch it on the internet.
Did you
watch the election coverage on Nov 8th/9th?
>I did watch the whole
election even though it meant me staying up until 9am the next morning(due to
time difference). I did watch a Swedish coverage of the election though which
means that it was slightly different from what people in the US might have
followed. The sources on the show came from American tv-channels such as CNN.
Do
you think Trump’s election will have any influence on your own life/on your
family’s life/your home country?
>I am pretty sure that America's choice of president will have an influence on
the whole world whether you like it or not. If it will have a first hand
influence on my family I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure it will influence my own
life in one way or another since America is a big part of me. I care a lot about this election because even though it's the president of the
United States it's also someone who has a big influence in the whole world. The
world depends on America and has a lot of power. I also care because the US is
a part of me. I feel like I'm an American at heart and I love the country
because it was my home for two years and it's where I left a part of my heart.
"Home is where your heart is". As cheesy as it sounds, it's true.
(Sienna, 24, Aupair from Spain)
What was your first reaction when you heard that Donald Trump became president of the US?
>My first reaction was: I can't believe it! is this really happening? And I started to feel sad and frustrated..
Did you
watch any of the debates? What was your reaction after watching them?
>I watched two debates and thought that Hillary would clearly win.
After all
the USA are not your home country—so why do you care about the results of the presidential
election?
>Because they are one of the most powerful countries in the world and all their decisions can affect us.
Johanna, 20, Politikwissenschaftsstudentin und ehemaliges Aupair aus Deutschland
(Johanna, 20, political science student and former aupair from Germany)
How long have you been following the electoral campaigns? What do you like/dislike about Hillary Clinton?
> For me the matter of the elections in the US started getting interesting, when the parties promoted all of their candidates. [...] As an Au Pair I spent six months in Berkeley, California a highly liberal and educated city. Of course the Bernie Sanders movement was really present and exciting to watch here. Students marched for a candidate they truly believed could make a change. A decent man that understood the needs of a generation and had a lot of political experience in the senate.
Sadly [...] Hillary Clinton got more and more states and the chances of Bernie Sanders to become president slowly became smaller.
Did you watch any of the debates? What was your reaction after watching them?
> When the debates started I had already been back in Germany and yes I have watched them. I think the spectacle of these “showdowns” are overrated. Of course it is interesting to see the candidates arguing face to face, but especially in this election it seemed to me, that there was a massive lack in professionalism. Insults and listing reasons why you should not vote for the other person, instead of telling the people what “you” stand for and believed in seemed to be wrong me.
What do you like/dislike about Donald Trump?
> It is insane how a man like Donald J. Trump can polarise the masses like that. A man with no experience in politics. If you think in this way, in order for a lot of people to get a good job, having a “bachelors” degree is not enough you will probably need other experiences, language skills, soft skills… why is it possible for someone with no experience and the worst social skills to get in the position of being the most powerful man in politics?
How long have you been following the electoral campaigns? What do you like/dislike about Hillary Clinton?
> For me the matter of the elections in the US started getting interesting, when the parties promoted all of their candidates. [...] As an Au Pair I spent six months in Berkeley, California a highly liberal and educated city. Of course the Bernie Sanders movement was really present and exciting to watch here. Students marched for a candidate they truly believed could make a change. A decent man that understood the needs of a generation and had a lot of political experience in the senate.
Sadly [...] Hillary Clinton got more and more states and the chances of Bernie Sanders to become president slowly became smaller.
After that
I wanted to know more about what drives this lady that had made it so far. Of
course seeing it from the outside it all looked good. “A woman as president”
with a lot of experience as “foreign minister” seemed pretty decent. But there
was far more to that. Scandals, affairs and corruption seemed to be always
present when looking at her. Also I had the feeling that she was incapable of
“showing human interaction”, which I think somehow cost her the trust of most
voters. She did not seem authentic in my opinion.
Furthermore the huge scandal about deleting 30 000
messages from her private email account made her seem unprofessional and
suspicious.Did you watch any of the debates? What was your reaction after watching them?
> When the debates started I had already been back in Germany and yes I have watched them. I think the spectacle of these “showdowns” are overrated. Of course it is interesting to see the candidates arguing face to face, but especially in this election it seemed to me, that there was a massive lack in professionalism. Insults and listing reasons why you should not vote for the other person, instead of telling the people what “you” stand for and believed in seemed to be wrong me.
What do you like/dislike about Donald Trump?
> It is insane how a man like Donald J. Trump can polarise the masses like that. A man with no experience in politics. If you think in this way, in order for a lot of people to get a good job, having a “bachelors” degree is not enough you will probably need other experiences, language skills, soft skills… why is it possible for someone with no experience and the worst social skills to get in the position of being the most powerful man in politics?
After all
America is not your home country—so why do you care about the results of the
presidential election?
> The
election might not affect the German citizens personally, but as we have seen
in the financial crises, where it could lead to.
Immigration
laws: As au pairs a lot of us have fallen in love with America as a modern
democracy. Personally I am considering living in New York for a year or so in
the future. This might not be possible if Donald Trump decides to lead the US
to isolation.
I also
worry about world peace in the future. Do we truly know or understand, where
this controversial leader will make military actions in future. Looking at the
Iraq war, in George W. Bush's’ time I hope Donald Trump rethinks actions before
taking measures.
Karl, 20, Aupair aus Polen
(Karl, 20, aupair from Poland)
Did you watch any of the debates? What was your reaction after watching them?
> Yes, I watched all three of them. They were all on a very low level, the candidates didn't answer any of the questions properly and were fighting to many personal wars.
What do you
like/dislike about Hilary Clinton?
> I don't like her, she's an old white lady who doesn't seem to be honest with anybody.
> I don't like her, she's an old white lady who doesn't seem to be honest with anybody.
What do
you like/dislike about Donald Trump?
> Trump can't control neither his words nor his behaviour, but he's also a rich and intelligent guy who knew how to manage his campaign to get elected.
After all
America is not your home country—so why do you care about the results of the
presidential election?
> I didn't care about it, I just watched it because it was so popular here and I was curious about political events in a different country than my homecountry.
Margharita, 25, ehemaliges Aupair aus Kolumbien, nun in den USA lebend
(Margharita, 25, former aupair from Colombia, now living in the US)
What do
you like/dislike about Donald Trump?
>I don't like that he doesn't care about others, about poor people and other people's needs in general. In his speeches he sounds very racist, not only about brown skinned people but also latinos, muslims, ...
Do you
think Trump’s election will have any influence on your own life?
>Since he's so racist I'm afraid things are going to get harder for people like me from now on. We might not see any sudden changes since it's just the beginning of his presidency but I'm sure many things are going to change and they won't bring any benefits for the minorities mentioned earlier. For example it will possibly be harder to find a job since might prefer North Americans.
If you made it til the end thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the little snippet of aupair thoughts on politics.Thanks to my friends for helping me by answering the questions! Johanna, special thanks to you for typing more than three (!) pages plus links on the questions (sorry I had to shorten them so much), and sending me some of your political-science-insider opinion! Let's end it with your words:
If you made it til the end thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed the little snippet of aupair thoughts on politics.Thanks to my friends for helping me by answering the questions! Johanna, special thanks to you for typing more than three (!) pages plus links on the questions (sorry I had to shorten them so much), and sending me some of your political-science-insider opinion! Let's end it with your words:
We don’t
know what will happen within the next four years, but as the decision is made
we have to remain somehow positive and wish for the better.
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