‘A rude awakening’: US expats reveal hopes and fears as inauguration looms
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As Donald Trump voters celebrate, Democrats plan a fightback – campaigners overseas on what happens next. 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]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f52deb48569664c0977f5bba9aecf0820c8e4679/0_518_2160_1296/master/2160.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
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.”.
![[Greg Swenson]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/588d3fb632a85ec4881c2c5c404edd436cbee3a9/0_229_2000_1200/master/2000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“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.”.
