US Election Results: bringing up bad memories in Europe

The tumultuous climax to the US election has undoubtedly caused a stir not only in the States, but across the world. As a British English teacher living in Spain, I’ve witnessed first-hand the fallout of Brexit, and the Catalonian Independence movement. Biden’s victory, or more importantly, Trump’s refusal to accept it, conjures haunting reminders of some of Europe’s own recent major issues.

Firstly, there is overwhelming anger that Trump is denying the election results validity. Both supporters and critics alike seem to believe that the election was fair. Fans of Trump I have spoken to feel that he is destroying his own legacy by not conceding defeat graciously, and creating a problem for the nation where there doesn’t need to be one.

Another consensus is that Trump’s actions come across as dangerous. After Brexit, and Catalonia’s fight for independence from the rest of Spain, citizens here are all too aware of how real issues can damagingly divide a nation. Trump’s current actions reflect these divisions. Huge protests, stock-market uncertainty, and questions over democratic processes, have all been the result of these widely contested issues.

After the Brexit vote in 2016, many supporters of the Remain campaign demanded another vote due to claims that the Leave campaign had acted unlawfully. Boris Johnson’s later strong electoral victory arguably somewhat showed how a divided nation respected democracy, and preferred to accept the result of the democratic process, despite it not being what everyone had hoped for.

In recent years, Spain has had hard fought elections resulting in multiple hung parliaments, as well as Catalonia’s desire for independence. Many here find it difficult to believe that any Spanish leader in Madrid would contest the democratic process of the whole nation. It would be seen as unpatriotic, especially without any evidence to back it up. Even more so after Catalonia’s independence vote was deemed to be unlawful by the Spanish courts, resulting in Catalonian members of parliament being arrested.

These issues are fresh in the memory, and the US election result is a stark reminder. The US should not take election fraud claims lightly, nor should they be made without substantial evidence. The flames of protests and civil unrest are easily fanned by a leader’s rhetoric. Here in Europe, it was the matters themselves that caused such turmoil.

Trump’s sheer disregard to produce evidence of what he purports seems to make a mockery of what we’ve had to endure in the UK and Spain. One man’s claim of foul play comes across as even more ridiculous to a Brit or a Spaniard after our recent political history, and the following fallouts.

Witnessing Trump fail to accept the US election result brings back bad memories of constant questioning over the legitimacy of the Brexit vote, and subsequently Britain’s future. It also underlines how important it was for the Spanish government to adhere to the constitution and find Catalonia’s vote to be illegal.

Whilst we’re dealing with, and healing from what has happened in Europe, Trump is creating new wounds seemingly unnecessarily.