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2025-01-16 15:36
Donald Trump’s voters in the UK are celebrating the arrival of what Sarah Elliot, an American conservative in London, describes as his “new world order,” while expat Democrats plan a fightback from Europe. In the buildup to the US presidential inauguration, the Guardian spoke to key campaigners in overseas communities.
Angela Fobbs, the teacher who chairs Democrats Abroad Global Black Caucus, lives near Mainz, Germany. “I’m definitely concerned about my family and my friends in the US,” she said. “People are going to have a rude awakening. It really is a time for everyone outside America to think about what they can do. Your congressman, your senator … people should write to them – it’s your right as a citizen, if they don’t hear from you, they’ll think everything is OK. As long as you have an American passport, you have the responsibility to care about your nation and if you don’t care about the US, care about your family, your friends. This started a long time ago, the desire for rightwing control of everything. We have been able to hold it back periodically, but it took people a long time to realise. If we give up, that is when we really will fall into some kind of fascism.”
“The only time people really vote for transformational change is when things are really bad,” said Greg Swenson, a London-based merchant banker who chairs Republicans Overseas UK. “Trump is coming in as a hero … similar to Jimmy Carter. Under Biden you have Russians being aggressive, inflation in high single digits, a very anaemic economy and the mullahs misbehaving in Iran. I was back in New York two weeks ago and there were teenage boys, black and white, walking down the streets in Maga hats – I couldn’t have predicted this a year ago. I’m optimistic because of the enthusiasm, but worried about the headwinds – I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as last time, when the results of the tax cuts were fantastic. When it comes to Elon Musk and Vivek (Ramaswamy), I’m not usually a fan of outside consultants. But if they can reduce the size of government and deregulate, that’s good.”
Sarah Elliott, a spokesperson for Republicans Overseas UK, originally from Virginia, is excited. “We are going to get a new world order,” she said. “A very muscular administration that wants America to be on the offensive again, considering taking on Greenland and the Panama Canal – things we thought were settled, all of these things are going to be for negotiation. A strong America is a strong Britain and a strong west and that’s what we want to see. I’m 100% certain Donald Trump will be good for the UK. We all need to put our differences aside and think about what we have in common. As Americans overseas we will continue to play that role in trying to explain to a British audience what is happening and why – and support our leaders.”
“I started as a kid, putting flyers through doors, aged 12 in 1960, Nixon v Kennedy,” says Sharon Manitta, who grew up in New York state and lives in Wiltshire, of her political baptism. Part of the global network of Democratic party activists dedicated to finding Americans overseas, who might not realise they can vote and guiding them through the process, she is already looking to the midterms in 2026. “Americans living outside the US, we are looking at issues like reproductive freedom, and the healthcare system, something very close to my heart because my parents lost a beautiful home to medical issues. The thing that gives me hope is so many states and cities are still going ahead with their plans to fight climate change, so if the federal government isn’t doing the right thing, a lot of local governments will. These are critical years, we are at the tipping point. Over the cycles of the American system, there have been other perilous times.”
Jennifer Ewing, a finance professional and libertarian, and member of Republicans Overseas UK, said she is “ecstatic and relieved” to see Trump – and RFK Jr – in power. “Younger generations don’t want this culture of forever wars or America being the world’s policeman … I think that will change with Trump. I always found it amazing when people would say he’s some kind of Putin apologist – he’s the only president under the last four Putin never invaded a country under. I’m not saying Trump is some peace loving hippy – he says peace through strength. Trump is pro-crypto, he’s into economic freedom – the opposite of countries trying to look at CBDCs.”
UK-based Democratic party activists, like Elizabeth Kelly, an environmental consultant from London, believe up to 80% of Americans overseas are Democrats, delivering two states for Joe Biden in 2020, with Republicans attempting to block overseas votes in key states in 2024. Now, Kelly said, activists in Europe will intensify their campaigning through apps, friendship networks, “mac and cheese nights”, stalls at universities and NFL games, with campaigners even dropping voter registration advice in the trolleys of shoppers with American accents. “Rather than spending time in our bubble sharing memes of the most ridiculous thing Trump has said, everything we do has to be about political power,” Kelly added. “We still have a big job to do to mobilise overseas voters. We can’t take our eye off the ball on local and state elections because we still have a lot of great progressive politicians we have to support and protect. What we are battling is 40 years in the making, the Republicans have been strategic. This is bigger than Trump, Trump is a manifestation, a symptom.”
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