‘I follow the news surrounding the impeachment daily and consider myself to be politically active, but I don’t feel involved in the impeachment procedure. That’s because I can’t influence the decision-making process, which makes it very different from the elections. It started with the Muller investigation and now we have this. Everyone is so focussed on impeachment that people forget about all the other crazy things that he does. I think the whole situation is also kind of embarrassing as an American.
I do think people underestimate the severity of the issue though, and even I downplay it now, just because ever since Trump took office, everything he does has been unprecedented. His erratic behaviour has become typical by now, unfortunately.
If Trump gets impeached, I think there might be riots by Trump supporters, but if he doesn’t get impeached, I don’t think it will affect the 2020 election much. His supporters already think the impeachment inquiry is “the greatest witch hunt in American political history”. I think they just turn a blind eye to what he does.
If you’re not a Trump supporter, and he does get impeached, I think whether you will be happy or not will depend on what you dislike about Trump. In this case, Mike Pence will become President. He is extremely conservative, and I think women’s and gay rights will be severely impacted in a negative way. So the prospect that Mike Pence might become President is a bit frightening as well.
I think it is really important to take part in political campaigns. If you’re not being active, you’re just letting it happen. After the 2016 election, it became more common to volunteer for campaigns. Nowadays my group of friends will go campaigning together. We have similar values and we do it as a kind of social activity. It’s nice when your friends are involved too.’
Erika Lee (29)
, a Master’s student of Health & Society, reflects on the current situation in her home country.