U.S. allies chuckled at our election process – then along came Trump

Americans tend to shun advice from their friends, their allies, when an outside perspective is offered that conflicts with the U.S. narrative.

Too often we hear Americans say they “don’t give a damn” what our European allies think about our actions as a nation.

So, it was interesting to watch last week’s session of a British Parliament committee debating whether to ban Donald Trump from the UK for his ugly, anti-Muslim views. 

Most on the panel leaned toward supporting the ban. Some said it was a matter of free speech – the freedom to express “stupidity.” Others said they would welcome "the fool" to their shores so that the Brits could educate Trump and shame him into changing his views on the integration of immigrants.

But the overwhelming tone of the session suggested that these elected officials were chagrined by Trump’s popularity in the U.S. In fact, they collectively sounded like the loyal friend who pulls one aside and says, “Hey, you’re embarrassing yourself.”

With that in mind, Nick Bryant, a BBC reporter based in New York City, comes forth to remind us that the spectacle of the U.S. presidential election process was widely belittled in Britain and across Europe long before Trump raised the level of cartoonish behavior to a new level.

In an online column for the BBC, Bryant expresses his amusement at an election process that drags on for nearly two years and takes on the form of a soap opera rather than a serious effort to choose a national leader.

The strange cast of characters that emerges every four years for this reality show has evolved in 2016. This bunch’s main goal is to grab as much time on camera as possible. Trump, of course, emerged months ago as the scene-stealer, Byant writes, while Ben Carson and a few other players “look like they have stumbled in from a neighboring film lot, and ended up in the wrong production altogether.”

Trump’s ongoing feud with the beautiful blonde starlet (Megyn Kelly), resulting in his refusal to go onstage Thursday adds to the drama. Will he or won’t he?

Bryant notes that U.S. allies find all of this quite entertaining, though not funny:

“The problem is that the greatest democratic show on earth also doubles as the most outlandish.

“For international onlookers, it can seem freakish and bizarre: a long-running farce populated by cartoonish characters, which works as entertainment but is a poor advertisement for American democracy.

“Though presidential elections easily satisfy most theatrical requirements, do they meet the needs of a well-functioning democracy?

“Regardless of the cast, the process itself is easy to lampoon.”