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Notes -
A couple thoughts: America-bashing has been de rigueur in much of Europe, as an example, and its intensity varies by country, but coexists with interest and appreciation. We have the same, here, in the inverse.
Nothing is monocausal in the national politics of a huge country with 340 million people. One valuable framework to pair with others would be an understanding of different regional cultures given America’s great size. I think Woodard’s American Nations is an improvement over Hackett Fisher’s Albion’s Seed. Some regional cultures are comparatively insular, and some more cosmopolitan. Our presidential elections to an extent involve voting blocks of regional cultures, with some historically wedded to one party, and others not. Note, these regions are not defined by state lines. Woodard’s Left Coast is designated west of the coastal ranges. Portland and Seattle are similar. The eastern two-thirds of Washington and Oregon are similar to Idaho and Wyoming.
Education level has much to do with whether or not Americans are aware of the sentiment inspired by Trump’s trade war. Which Americans you’re talking about informs how much sensitivity they have to the mood of our allies abroad. The inland American West has sparse population due to little water, has been treated as a kind of internal colony largely because of this, and has thus developed a very independent culture. They’re standoffish towards New York and D.C. so you can guess their level of concern for London and Tokyo.
One final thought about the pot calling the kettle black… My family are mostly college-educated, upper middle class white collar Republicans, who have quietly voted for Libertarians or relatively moderate Democrats, when they can be found, which is not easy given where we live, since Trump and MAGA have asserted broad control over Republican primaries. We’re not Trump supporters. But I can’t help note some hypocrisy from our European allies. Many Germans were shocked at Vance’s speech and his statements that were taken to be intervening in their politics. Ask the same what are their views are on Merkel receiving Obama in Germany while he was only the first-term junior senator from Illinois, and a presidential candidate — not even the president-elect — which was clearly designed to boost Obama’s foreign relations bonafides to U.S. voters ahead of the election, and you get shrugs. Obviously the impact of Trump’s trade war is far more serious than either Merkel’s actions or Vance’s speech. But I wouldn’t classify the populations of our allies abroad as always concerned with how their actions are perceived here, either.
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