Can I ask you a question…

Donald Trump. Besides guns and healthcare, he might be the most asked about topic when it comes to the United States. Sometimes the question is prefaced with, “I’m not sure if this is an appropriate question, but…” I know what is coming next. And I am prepared. Though, Trump continues to try his best to throw me off.

A version of the question “what do you think of Trump?” is one that I was even asked to talk about in my Fulbright interview. “How would you address the question about your president? It will come up. What would you plan on saying?” I’m not sure that the answer I gave in my Fulbright interview—that was something along the lines of addressing how people “voted out of their own interest”—would be the same response I would give today.

I have had numerous opportunities to think about my reply. In the three months I have been here, President Trump has condemned the United Nations, doubled down on his hatred of immigrants and refugees, told people to burn their Nikes, fired a number of employees (JeffSessions is the latest as of this post), doctored a press video, put forth a Supreme Court Justice with a history of sexual violence toward women, called himself a Nationalist, and most recently blamed California firefighters and mismanagement of forests for the fires in California (Make America Rake Again). And these are just some of the highlights.

Since I have been in Norway talking with students, I have changed how I discuss Trump. As I continue to watch the United States from abroad, I become more and more saddened at not only the state of my country but at how we choose to portray our country to the rest of the world. Not only are we hopelessly and dangerously divided in the US, we also continue to alienate ourselves from the rest of the world with rhetoric around “America First” that is ultimately harmful to our livelihood.

Past Fulbright Rover Rachel Cohen references another rover alum, John Hanson, when writing about her discussion on politics. Hanson states, “Too often I cannot give an answer. Responses I can offer, but answers have been few.” I find this same struggle in my position as Rover. When you ask me “How did Trump get elected?” I can give the “answer” that goes something like this:

In the United States, we must register to vote. In some states, this is as simple as getting a driver’s license. In others, it is much more difficult and time-consuming. Please understand that 20% of the population of citizens in the United States that are eligible to vote are not registered. That’s almost 50 million people.

There are the almost 7.3 million individuals that are ineligible to vote because they are in prison, on probation or parole, or have lost their voting rights because of felon laws.

There are a number of other factors that make voting difficult for individuals, but these are just some examples.

Of all eligible voters—registered or not—we had around a 58% turnout in our latest presidential election (138 million people). That means a large percentage of our population didn’t vote. If we look then at the total number of eligible voters, around 26% voted for Trump. That is a small minority of the population that chose Trump to be the president. Which is pretty much the same for Clinton. Both sat at around 26%, but Clinton had more votes and Trump had a better outcome with the electoral college. But, Trump is not the first president who lost the popular vote and won the election. He’s actually the 5^th. (My percentages come from www.electproject.org and these statistics are verified through other polling and news outlets.)

So, if you think about it, the majority of Americans did not elect Trump and yet, he is our president.

I could give that answer. And it’s factual. Technically, the majority of Americans never elect the president. It is a small group of individuals who elect our president and our system is structured in ways that make this the case.

But, this response, as accurate as it is, is not what students are really asking—or what most people who ask “how did Trump become president?” are asking. Instead, what they want to know is how we got to the point we’re at in the US. And, my thoughts on how we got there. So, even if I start with that “answer” I continue by sharing some of my opinions on how we got to this point in our history.

I premise these beliefs with a few important facts:

I’m a liberal. I grew up with a Norwegian Tante who talked about the benefits of socialism. Social Democracies like in Norway are a government model that I believe in and feel are much more beneficial than capitalism as a basic economic structure in a democracy.

I believe that we need to work to create spaces where we care about the welfare of all people. I believe it is important to create laws and policies that make everyone’s lives better, not just those who can afford it.

It’s important to realize that even the most liberal people in the US are probably considered conservative by Norwegian standards. And, in the US we struggle with the idea that there is such a thing as a socialist democracy. Because I believe in a socialist democracy, I am often seen as having communist views (even though socialism and communism are different political (and economic) structures.

I am a feminist. One of my major concerns with what is happening in the US right now is the assault on women’s and women’s bodies.

I share these personal facts—or versions of them—before I answer the question about Trump. It is important to know where I am coming from in order for students to understand the answer I give.

My answer goes something like this:

I struggle with Trump. I have a number of reasons why Trump and his presidency are problematic, but one of my major concerns with Trump is he makes us look bad to the rest of the world. He continues to do things that make the US and US citizens look stupid, unintelligent, and uninformed.

One of the most important roles of the President of the US is that they need to be a diplomat. The Head Diplomat of the United States. I might not agree with the policies of past US presidents, but even those I did not agree with worked to create relationships between the United States and foreign countries. (I use Richard Nixon as an example.) Some presidents worked decades and over various administrations to create relationships and foreign policies. All this work that has been done in the past has been quickly destroyed by President Trump in just two years.

Trump believes we do not need other countries, but in 2018, and beyond, we need other countries more than ever. We cannot survive on our own. We are reliant on other nations for trade and to continue to maintain world order. If we value democracy and justice, we need to show that through our relationships and work with other nations.

Foreign policy is not about controlling other nations, it is about working together with our allies in order to keep us stable and prosperous. Trump fails to see this, so he makes us look bad as a nation and has destroyed many of our relationships. And, in his path, he has left destruction that will take our next presidents years, if not decades, to repair. We will struggle with creating trust and relationships and this will make what we want to accomplish as a nation even more difficult.

This is how Trump makes us look to Norwegians. (And, the rest of the world.)

But, then I continue.

For me, it is not Trump that worries me. Trump believes he has much more power than he actually does. And, we can see that the claims Trump has made about his presidential accomplishments are not grounded in facts or reality. Because of how our government is put into place, I believe that Congress and The Supreme Court have much more of an impact on me as an American and my daily life than Trump.

Congress makes laws. They have the power to create new laws at any time, so who we vote into power in Congress has the ability to change my life and welfare. The Supreme Court interprets laws. The Supreme Court has the power to overturn laws they feel are un-Constitutional. And, with the addition of Brett Kavanagh on the Supreme Court, my concerns about women’s rights, immigrant

rights, and changing our criminal justice system will be strongly challenged as we move forward.

Starting with my personal political views, something I do not have as much freedom to share when I teach in the US, allows me to then connect my reaction to Trump both as a scholar and as a US citizen in more specific ways. In addition, I am able to move the conversation beyond Trump. I can move to the ways in which our political system work, and its impact on US citizens. Trump is good at a variety of things and diverting the conversation away from what we should be talking about by focusing our attention elsewhere is something he is masterful at.

By starting with Trump and then moving to the importance of all the branches of government in the US, the checks and balances we’ve created, and the ways in which Congress and the Courts impact my everyday life, I am hopefully able to present a larger understanding of how the US functions and some of the realities of people living in the US.

As are the other topics I’ve already addressed in this blog, this is a difficult conversation. Americans struggle with the political system, how to push against it, and how to move within it. When the leader of our nation creates soundbites and Tweets that are ready-made for sharing, posting, copying and pasting, it is difficult to wade through the noise and confusion and see what is important.

For me, it is people. It is acknowledging difference but working toward a place where we can treat one another with dignity and respect. I hope that my time in Norway continues to allow me to start some of these conversations with people. And, when I return home to bring with me the ways in which I want to see changes made in my community and tools to start those conversations with others.