Well… It looks like we’re going to have to get used to saying President Trump. Melissa and I both voted for Hillary Clinton, so we’re still a little sad about it all, but we’re trying not to be sore losers. The election results were a complete, jaw-dropping surprise to us, but maybe that means Trump can surprise us again and be a good president. We, along with the rest of the world, will just have to wait and see.
Watching everything unfold from Switzerland, it was amazing to see how much coverage the European press gave to the U.S. elections. A year ago Switzerland had their own once-every-four years federal elections, but the intense coverage was only during a few weeks before, and a few days after the vote. By contrast, over the last year and a half, I couldn’t help but catch glimpses of Trump’s, Clinton’s, or Obama’s face plastered on the front pages of newspapers at least once a week as I walked through town.
On election night we briefly turned on our TV, and saw both the French news, and a channel called Euronews, had full coverage with their reporters and anchors on the ground in the U.S. Melissa and I, though, opted to follow along with the American coverage through the internet instead. We only watched long enough to see that Florida was probably going to Trump, then we went to bed since it was sure to be a long night, and Switzerland is six hours ahead of Eastern Time. Our fitful night of sleep saw both of us wake up a few times to check the results on our phones, and I think it was about 8 a.m. here when it finally looked clear that Trump had won.
Being that it took so long to call the election, the print newspapers here didn’t have the results in time for their Wednesday papers. On Thursday, though, it was the only thing in the papers. Since it feels like such a historic election, I made a trip to the news stand at the train station to pick up a few papers for souvenirs. The European press, and commentary sections are mostly against Trump. However, there is a loud and growing nationalist presence all across Europe that is cheering the results. Below I have some pictures from the newspapers I collected.
