A Norwegian’s view on the US election

Posted on by Ragnhild

I have thought about this post for a long time. I have tried to find the right words, but I am still shocked; still watching with eyes wide open. Tomorrow evening (or night for us Norwegians) either Hillary or Trump will become one of the most powerful people in the world. The President of the United States. Except the united part.

The Norwegian media has covered the election, and many Norwegians have followed it from the start. I wonder what it is like to be an American right now. What it is like to be in what seems like utter chaos to an outsider. It looks like neither of the candidates is suitable for the job, and one of them should never have been a candidate in the first place.

In 2012 only roughly 55% of voters voted. I hope more people will vote this year. The outcome of the election will affect not only Americans, but the rest of the world too. It would be naive to think otherwise. Even I, far away as I am, will feel the ripple effects. A lot of non-Americans wish they could vote. Me included.

So this final paragraph goes out to you. Dear US citizens, your vote is your voice. Please speak up. The rest of the world wants to, but cannot. Tomorrow you will sit down in front of your TV’s and hope that a person with an opinion completely different from your own, does not become president. And know that, even though it will be 3 am in Norway, I will be watching with you.

35 thoughts on “A Norwegian’s view on the US election”

  1. I didn’t follow it all, I just know that years ago people didn’t want someone without political background to run and now they vote for trump… I also don’t like his personality and his speeches but that’s my opinion, for as far as I’ve followed the news it sounds like the election is quite a joke. Maybe I should register my dog lol to run for president lol. Have you seen the video of both if them in duet singing The time of my life, so epic.

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    1. Haha, I loved the video of them singing. I feel like the election gave you the choice of either crying or laughing – and it would be too hard to cry for all those months, so most people (me included) laughed. Now everyone think they can run for president. I hope only sensible once make it through the next election!

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        1. If he actually tries to build the wall-. No, I can’t even imagine. I hope he becomes the best president that he can be, and manages to create more jobs like he promised. Most of the other promises I hope he just… “Forgets” 🙂

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          1. Exactly! and no I can’t imagine him really building that wall either but then again he’s pretty unpredictable :/ indeed creating more jobs should be a high priority! but I guess this is also an issue that every country has 🙂 we have 17 million people in the Netherlands, 1 million are unemployed that’s almost 6% of the country which I think is very high for a well fairing country.

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            1. I think so too. Norway has a 4,1 % unemployment rate and it has been increasing with the decrease of price on oil. I didn’t know the Netherlands had a 6% unemployment rate though, how come? I think the US has a 5% (if I remember correctly).

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              1. I think it’s increasing everywhere :/ well most companies don’t take as much people as they used to, products are being made in eastern European countries because it’s cheaper and companies don’t give contracts so easily anymore, it’s very hard to get a contract for a 40 hour full-time job, everyone gets either a 6 month or 1 year contract and everyone wants young people because they are cheap… (like 8,50 EUR per hour or 78 NOK). If you’re 50+ then you’ll most likely won’t get a job other then cleaning. So in Norway there are like 300k unemployed? (5.3 million is the population in Norway right?) you guys got so much space xD Norway is like what? 10 times bigger than the Netherlands lol. I just googled the population per square kilometres. Norway has approximately 16 people per square kilometres and we got 411 people xD insane.

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  4. Also an American and I’m quite worried about the outcome and what will happen over the course of not only the next 4 years but the ripple effect it will have on future generations.

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  5. Ok, so as an American I’ll give you my point of view: we’re all terrified. I haven’t slept well in months. Seriously. I’ve chewed my fingernails off. I’m a Californian, and since I live in a “blue” state, nobody I know personally is a Trump supporter. Nobody. I know they are out there…I’ve seen them, but they aren’t as common here as in other states. We’re all scared here and the coming apocalyptic doom that awaits us should that horrible orange thing be elected is just too scary for words. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do. I’m not going to move to Canada. I wish I could, but they have immigration laws and here in the U.S. I’m able to, you know, make money so I can survive. It’s complicated.

    I was a Bernie Sanders supporter. I voted for him in the primaries. I was legitimately excited about a candidate that wanted to make our country a better place through better health care and ease the student loan debt crisis in this country. Now that Bernie Sanders is out of the picture, I’ll be voting for Hillary tomorrow. She’s not my first choice and I view her sort of as just a standard politician. Under Hillary, the country will be much the same as it has been. While the status quo isn’t exciting, things aren’t going to change too much under Hillary. The Trump supporters just seem like they want to watch the world burn. Do we really want to give that man the nuclear codes? I can’t imagine anything worse.

    This country is so ideologically divided that it’s like we’re living in two different worlds. We don’t understand each other at all. We might as well be living on different planets from one another. Every time I try to take a step back and understand the other side, all I see is racism, sexism, and hatred, and it upsets me. There is no common ground, and that worries me for our future.

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    1. Hi Heather, thank you so much for sharing your point of view. It’s really interesting to read, for me as an outsider!

      If any of the candidates this year could be close to Norwegian politicians – it would be Bernie Sanders. It’s too bad he didn’t make it. Crossing my fingers and toes for Clinton now! Trump just can’t win. If he does… Well I as a Norwegian would feel devastated, so I can’t imagine how you Americans would feel!

      I agree, I try to see what the different supporters say about their candidate in a somewhat objective view – but it’s hopeless. I don’t understand why anyone would vote for him, not really.

      I hope the US finds a more united state in the future (hopefully under Clinton). In today’s society we are all too connected to survive an unstable America or Europe. First Brexit, and now maybe Trump. No, it has to be Clinton.

      Norwegians wish you well and a good outcome of this election!!

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  6. Actually Hillary Clinton is extremely qualified for the job. Would I have like someone with a little less baggage? Maybe. But smart and knowledgeable and concerned for all of the right issues she is. Trump on the other hand is a sleazy maniac with little knowledge of anything except himself and his wants. Yes. please wish us well tomorrow.

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    1. Agreed! We’ve actually never had a more qualified candidate. A law degree from Yale, Attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund, as First Lady of Arkansas she was chair of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee. As First Lady of the U.S. she worked with both parties to create the Chidren’s Health Insurance Program. She was a U.S. senator, then Secretary of State. Impressive resume.

      She’s not my first choice because she does have some baggage, but she’s smart, she knows what she’s doing, and she has a long track record in politics and although I don’t agree with everything she’s done, for the most part I side with her on policy in general.

      Trump is just a racist, sexist, horrifying man who will burn this country to the ground.

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    2. She sure has a lot of experience! Thankfully it seems like the scandals have been blown out of proportions lately, I hope she will become everything America needs. Trump is everything America doesn’t need. He just cannot become president. The world will be more shocked than when it woke up to Brexit.

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  7. As a US citizen, I can only imagine how this looks to the rest of the world. Hopefully sanity will rule tomorrow and we will continue to be led by someone who actually understands politics and the rest of the world.

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    1. I’m going to be honest – we don’t understand how it could go this far. But then again, you probably don’t either. I hope so too! Otherwise… No, I don’t want to think about it.

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      1. No one took it seriously until it was too late to stop the train. Even now, I can’t believe it might happen (7 more hours until the polls close on the West Coast). I can’t imagine what it would mean.

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  9. You must never forget the bone deep racism and misogyny of many American men. President Obama was a ‘black swan’, the class structure, racial hatred and domination, and hatred of women was baked in from birth. The slave-owning structure survived our civil war. The party of Lincoln is now the party of Putin and the ‘alt-right’ Nazis of the foul Dead Brietbart and Stormfront.
    As in 1939 the Russians and the Nazis have joined and Trump is now their president. Never before has a president been helped into office by our nation’s adversary if not enemy. Never has a foreign power turned the FBI to win an election. The rump party of the Confederacy is back in power and treason is in the air in the USA. I’d like to offer encouraging words but I can’t. All we can do is prepare to fight for what we believe in, remain busy and productive, and wait out this orange shit-storm.

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    1. I thought I understood Americans. I though I had an idea of what the US is like; its culture, its values. However, visiting a country and getting to know some of its locals – only gets you so far it seems. America is very different from Norway. The outcome of this election has reestablished that I still have a lot to learn about society, although from time to time I think that I would rather not.

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      1. I’m so happy to be a Californian. Our state was very against Trump in this election and I’m now relying on the protection of our state laws to shield me from what’s going on in the rest of the country. I’ve never been more ashamed of my country, but I’ve also never been more proud to be s Californian.

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          1. Yeah it’s pretty different from state to state as far as culture, attitudes, etc. Each state has their own government which passes state laws in addition to the federal laws. So for instance, we have legal marijuana, legal gay marriage, and anti-discrimination laws at the state level here so even if federal laws don’t protect these things, we do at the state level. We also have the toughest gun restrictions in the country which is why in a state of nearly 40 million people, we still have way less gun violence than some smaller states with loose gun laws.

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