• Adlach
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    2810 months ago

    As an American, Trump is the first thing many of my European friends talk about

    • Flying Squid
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      -510 months ago

      Yes, but do you have to justify yourself with half the Europeans you meet that you’re not one of the Trump supporters?

      • @jj4211@lemmy.world
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        1710 months ago

        During his presidency, yes. On a related note, when I would speak to someone in the UK during Boris Johnson, he would be careful to inject a bit of “Boris Johnson sucks, Brexit was dumb” to make his stance clear.

        Related, they sometimes assume I not only own a gun, but I’m armed at all times like some old west cowboy, depending on how little they deal with Americans day to day.

        • Flying Squid
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          -710 months ago

          Oh, so not for your entire life. Seems like it’s a little different then.

          • @jj4211@lemmy.world
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            310 months ago

            Well, of course I didn’t have to clarify I wasn’t a supporter of President Trump while he wasn’t President…

            I pretty much have to be prepared for assumptions about any dubious American move in the global stage, and America makes a lot of dubious moves.

            • @jarfil@lemmy.world
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              110 months ago

              If you want something to justify yourself about for life, I have one:

              “America is a continent with plenty of different countries, why do you people from the USA call yourselves ‘American’ like you owned the whole continent?”

            • Flying Squid
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              -310 months ago

              Right, but my point is that there never has been a time in my life where someone hasn’t equated Jew and Israeli. I’ve had to defend myself against that since I was a teenager and that was the 1990s. And if people blame all Americans for the crimes of what is actually a minority of those Americans, then they shouldn’t do that either.

      • @AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
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        1110 months ago

        Yes. Europeans tend to think Americans get the government we vote for and that we must like Trump since he was the president and isn’t going away. It’s ignorant, but I understand that they have this notion and I will, out of compassion and tolerance, explain that I am not a deranged bootlicking reactionary and do not support forever war, Christian nationalism or corporate hegemony.