Before the Trump assassination attempt, I already knew tensions were going to be high when I got back to the US, just in time for the Fourth of July. In a Nashville hotel on Monday morning, July 1 I watched MSNBC, with glazed eyes as everyone talked and talked about the Supreme Court's Decision to grant Trump immunity from Criminal Liability. I had not been following his trial or indictment closely, and it is slightly easier to tune out in Australia.
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"Oh Lordy," I groaned to myself. "Here we go"
An election year is never without drama, and Americans (and the rest of the world) thrive on it. The Dems are currently worried, but don't you worry, I hear plenty of loathing for Trump, everywhere. I was reminded when I stopped in Washington DC on Tuesday, July 9 and I listened to performance poets sing songs bashing him. The audience joined in to chant "never again" over and over again. I later watched, slightly amused, at the way people at the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery opted to take selfies with the portrait of Obama and cracked jokes in front of Trump's.
Trump's trial was big, but the debate with Joe Biden and its repercussions seemed astronomically bigger. I watched a few of the highlights and that was enough. My aunt and her boyfriend in Atlanta, spoke to me at the end of the week about how shameful it was.
The problem with dementia, my Aunt told me like it was fact, is that there's no way you can change someone's mind or argue logically with them.
My parents, active Democrats, seem hesitant at the idea of Biden stepping down. But then we will unquestionably not win, I told them, and they know I am right.
The prospect of a different democratic candidate is exhilarating. I'm a registered independent voter, but I've voted democratically for every presidential election. I'm thinking about voting third party for the first time in my life, but I still get a kick out of the highly unlikely prospect of Oprah Winfrey stepping in to replace Biden.
Can you imagine a more quintessentially American election, two celebrity billionaires pretending to care about every day Americans? Personally I think Oprah would win in a landslide.
Conversations like these were happening all around me, and then yesterday the assassination attempt happened. I was on the back porch at a different aunt's house in Kentucky and politics actually hadn't come up at all. The biggest world news discussed was the death of Richard Simmons and Dr. Ruth. Then as we got in the car, and I opened my Instagram. The news accounts, Ground News had pictures of Trump up with blood on his face.
"Trump says he is fine after being whisked off stage following apparent gunfire at rally."
My heart sank and I immediately thought it was a publicity stunt. Within the next several minutes two different friends, one from Pittsburgh, one from Philadelphia had messaged me asking if I'd heard the news. One friend sent me the videos about others dying. "It seems like a pretty elaborate hoax," he said.
That night my Dad and I went to go get pizza and Trump's name came up at the table next to mine. I kept looking at the heroic-like press photos of Trump with blood on his face and his fist in the air. I watched my conservative Facebook friends from South Carolina go off. One friend changes his profile picture to that of Donald Trump, an American flag superimposed on his face.
Here at the LAX airport in the international departure section, the election dramas don't seem like quite as big of a deal. A mother and her two kids from California on my left tell me they heard about the assassination attempt, but they haven't been keeping up with it. They are headed to Fiji on a church trip.
Becky Lewis, a young woman from Austin Texas says it's almost like "PTSD" at this point, she wants to distance herself from it.
I can't say all this makes me want to stay. But I also know that ignoring it won't make it go away.
- Alex Morris is a Newcastle Herald contributing writer and US expat who now calls Australia home.
