Tag: US election

Relief!

On By EstherIn In the news6 Comments

While The Netherlands is heading into stricter lockdown, with an evening curfew proposed to start this weekend, I can’t help but still feel joy and it’s all due to a new president of the USA! I feel a huge amount of relief that the White House will have some decency again. For me, it began yesterday evening with the touching memorial for the 400.000 who passed away due to Covid-19…

I watch the inauguration ceremony and I feel I can breathe again after the four years of terror a Trump presidency gave us.

On a side note, the Biden-Obama bromance still lives…

… and I love this Kamala Harris and Barack Obama first bump picture.

Kamala Harris was sworn in…

… as was Joe Biden…

… and for the first time in a long time I can look to the future again with some hope. I thought I’d be blubbering tears but really, my heart is just skipping with joy. Biden called for unity and truth in his inauguration speech just now and it’s just such a relief to hear a little sense coming out of a US president’s mouth again, delivered with heart and warmth. A Joe Biden presidency doesn’t only mean a lot to America but also to the world and he seems to realize that as well, going by his speech. I hope Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will do well and above all, do good, as they intend to.

Second Wednesday in a row…

On By EstherIn In the news15 Comments

… that I’ve been stuck to the screen watching US politics unfold in their congress. Last week the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election win in congress was interrupted by the awful riot by Trump supporters on the Capitol. Today Donald Trump was impeached for the second time during his presidency for inciting that riot. Just like with all those Brexit debates and votes in the British parliament in 2019, I was glued to the screen this evening with the impeachment debate and subsequent vote in the US House of Representatives. (Good thing about watching these UK and US debates is that I learn a lot about how democracy is conducted there).

The US House of Representatives vote was 232 for and 197 members against impeachment and I wonder why 4 Republicans didn’t vote on such a monumental resolution. I took a screenshot of the moment the 10th Republican voted for impeachment…

I have to say, the arguments Republicans brought about ‘needing to unite and bring the country together’ felt very hypocritical to me after they only deepened the huge divide through repeated lies and spreading hatred during at least the past four years. Also, they didn’t seem to be able to keep their arguments to the point, citing the current president’s accomplishments and referring to Black Lives Matter protests that were violent. Yes, that violence was terrible too but those arguments didn’t seem pertinent to me to the issue at hand, namely that lies told for months on end and Trump’s speech on January 6th only emboldened his base to do what they ended up doing in that riot. The Republicans speak of healing, but healing can only begin if politicians start telling the truth and especially Republicans need to state at the very least the truth that there was no widespread election fraud. You can disagree on policies, you can’t disagree on the truth. Apparently 197 representatives don’t see it that way and continue to support a lying president. Thank goodness he’ll be gone next week when I’ll be stuck to the screen again, watching the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Images I have seen today of the National Guard having to rest in the Capitol to protect it from their own countrymen and women are extremely depressing, they don’t belong in a country which has always said it holds democratic values high.

A three week extension of our Covid lockdown here in The Netherlands until February 9th and the consideration of possibly even a curfew (as announced yesterday) is disheartening but almost feels like peanuts in comparison. US democracy is under siege and it’s heartbreaking to witness from the outside. I really hope the inauguration next week will remain peaceful!

I was up all night…

On By EstherIn In the news16 Comments

… fascinated by the whole process of certifying the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I didn’t mean to stay up but in the end I just couldn’t go to bed without seeing this happy ending to the tragic events of yesterday…

It’s 4 am in Washington DC and it’s 10 am here where I live. I worked a bit during the Pennsylvania debate where the Republicans were so disheartening that I didn’t want to waste my time listening to them after the first 45 minutes or so. I hope that the worst is now over and we can actually look forward to something better coming from the US from now on. In the meantime, let me share again a video made just after the presidential election last November, celebrating the victory and especially Stacey Abrams role in Georgia. After the past 12-16 hours or so, I think everyone can use a smile again…

I have taken the rest of the day off, am going to bed now for a bit of sleep. Here’s to a much better USA than we’ve seen the past four years!

I shouldn’t be surprised…

On By EstherIn In the news9 Comments

…. but I’m in shock at what I am seeing in the US on the news right now! Republican senators opposing the constitution and refusing to certify the election results, Trump urging protesters to march on the Capitol and protesters actually breaching the building and marching inside!

Source CNN

Just now on the BBC a reporter said, “In another country, another continent, this would be a failed state.” The USA has become so very ugly under Donald Trump and I feel such dread… has US democracy died?

Bad news, good news

On By EstherIn In the news, Real life, Richard Armitage7 Comments

I remember four years ago, when the whole world mourned the loss of Barack Obama and feared US fascism under Donald Trump, Democrats were told to suck it up and accept “the will of the people” in the 2016 US election. I even remember having a discussion on blog back then with a Republican who went on about the “will of the people” when Hillary Clinton held 3 million more popular votes. The electoral college system is what it is, however, and defeat was graciously accepted by Clinton, and Obama invited Trump to the White House for the beginning of the transition, as he should.

Yet now, with Biden leading the popular vote by 5 million and after having won the electoral college, the will of the people does not seem that important anymore to Republicans. Trump announced months ago that if he loses there’s fraud and if he wins there isn’t, which is ridiculous. And yep, he’s yelling ‘fraud’ now without any evidence and supported by his Republicans as well. Goodness, if the Democrats had been fraudulent, would they really have let all those Republican senators be re-elected? I know I shouldn’t be surprised with such an aggressive, un-democratic president, but I truly can’t believe what I am seeing. The world is watching the erosion of democracy in what used to be a beacon of democracy and that is sad and frightening at the same time. Inauguration day for Joe Biden in January can’t come soon enough.

Luckily, it isn’t all terrible news, in my real life some nice things are happening. For one, Uncle Vanya will be coming to the Netherlands after all!

It’s scheduled for November 29th but ticket sales haven’t started yet as cinemas and theatres are closed here again due to the Corona measures. It’s not certain yet whether this really will happen or not on that date. The movie theatre is an hour away from where we live but Mr Esther and I do plan on going, if we can.

Also, today I had a video interview with someone at the Dutch Council for Refugees on doing some volunteer work there. Next week I go in, with social distancing measures in place, to take a look at what I could be doing and that makes me happy. So, with all the bad things, I also keep on trying to do this…

… and try not to get overwhelmed by news and midlife crisis stuff, and hope things will get better.