In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody’s okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.

… you said it, not me 😅 It’s a combination of worry, horror and a sort of sick fascination.

But yeah the stereotypical joke of some Americans not realizing there’s a world beyond their borders does have some truth to it. I guess it’s sort of understandable given just geographical facts alone (let alone hegemonic status): continental US of A only has 2 countries as neighbors and one of them mostly speaks the same language, where in continental Yurop you can probably hit 4 countries with 7 languages on a 6h drive.

What’s crazy to me is I don’t even know who’s in charge of England or any other country for that matter.

England is part of the UK and with no devolved government, so the Prime Minister of the UK is in charge. Currently Sir Kier Starmer.

Sorry, couldn’t resist.

Part of the issue is that Europe largely relies on US media - e.g. there isn’t really a European or French/German/Polish/… equivalent of Reddit or Twitter (unless you count the national Lemmy and Mastodon servers, but those are pitifully small compared to Reddit).

I have been unduly interested in US politics since 2016.

The last Trump presidency emboldened crazies and the right wing here in NZ. Our current government is acting far more right wing than any in the past 30 years. 30 years ago, there were other reasons for the moves that were made…this time it seems to be because FUCK YOU if you are not already rich.

I really wish that US politics wasn’t so important for the rest of the world…but it really is. It sucks!

If Trump wins again, then I see a further strengthening of the global right. As it is, it is going to take a generation to reverse some of the issues currently being created.