Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[crashlander]

Our last visit to the US was late last year when my wife and I visited a number of midwest and southwest states.  Without exception we found people to be kind and courteous, and without exception they believed the US to be the greatest country in the world.

The vast majority in the fifty to seventy five age group were rusted on Trump followers.  Many listened every morning to Rush Limbaugh because "he is able to take complex matters and simplify them for us".

Few had been overseas and quite a number had not ventured outside their own state.

There was a superficial interest in Australia and Europe, possibly because of their lack of knowledge.  Free to air tv usually concentrated on local and state matters with Fox providing right wing views almost entirely related to the US.

We were left speechless at the end of a Diana Ross concert in Las Vegas when the middle aged couple sitting behind us queried our accent. When we said we were from Australia the wife said she had never heard of it.

Years ago I was told that the US is a first world country with a third world underbelly.  I've seen nothing to change that view

I can understand that. When I was travelling through Europe in 1987 I met a number of Americans. You could generally hear them a long time before you saw them (although there were a few with volume control).
A quote I heard while I was in a Youth Hostel in Brussel: "Australia! I've been to Australia. Vienna's the capital, isn't it?"
Same day, different American, "You speak real good English for an Australian!" (She thought I spoke German, that I came from Austria. I do speak some, but...)
In Vienna, in the tourist shops, there were t-shirts with Kangaroos in Lederhosen. The comment was 'We have no kangaroos here!" (Please imagine a strong German accent.)
(In those days my body could handle Youth Hostels. Alas, no more.)

I've never met an unpleasant American, although I've heard a few demanding McDonald's type service in Spanish and Portuguese restaurants. They just don't understand that foreigners do thing differently, on the whole.
Their education system is very America-centric. Most other places are not real (except Canada and Mexico). Those that know something of their past are very knowledgeable about that place, but they didn't read about it school. Their ignorance of the world is amazing.

In a lot of ways, Trump does describe a significant group of Americans. That is frightening.