I legit went and bought a bottle of rum

You guys probably feel pretty powerless watching the US elections from other countries. If it helps, those of us who live here feel pretty powerless too. Even those who live in swing states, from what I hear.

Still voted, though.

No wonder you feel powerless, what with first-past-the-post voting and… well, everything else 😅

We've definitely got our problems here in Yurop too (like literal fucking neofascists being super popular), but at least we get proportional representation – I get to vote for democratic socialists so that it actually means something
- First past the post is bad, but the electoral college can make voter apathy unbearable. My state is more of a swing state now, but it used to be solidly red for decades, and voting blue felt like spitting in a hurricane.
Imagine how Florida voters probably feel. Majority vote to create a constitutional amendment for abortion to be a guaranteed right.

The minority wins.

Majority vote for the legalization of Marijuana for recreational use

The minority wins.

That has to be demoralizing, to have the majority of voters want something and both be shot down
- I would burn the fucking place to the ground
- Floridian here.
  
  I downed 18 beers last night.
  
  Edit: what's even more hilarious is the super majority to pass amendments was because of an amendment. Said amendment passed with 52 percent.
  
  Never felt so fucking helpless.
Sure do. War is comming, because the American people crave for the blood gargling screeches of the innocent and their families and the dead expressions of even more of Trump's rape victims. Only a matter of time before I'll see my extended family run away to greener pastures or stubbornly die here and then I too can ask my self the question, join the war effort so I can feel like I did something or runaway and do my best to at least provide for my wife and the child she wants...

Like seriously? A Trump landslide? For once, I sincerely can say without a single ounce of hope or regret, fuck America, from the bottom of my heart. China is now the top superpower, good job assholes! Truly a race to the bottom...
I think now would be the time I left USA or started building a resistance 😅

Honestly that's how a lot of people in the US feel about it too

It's gotta hit harder if you're directly affected by the outcome.
- During the Trump administration, every morning I’d wake up with vague existential dread, picking up my phone thinking “what now?” And every morning there would be some new shameful low. It was awful.
- Oh I'm absolutely sure it does, and thank the fucking gods I'll probably only be indirectly affected
- The whole planet, the whole human race is directly affected
I can only imagine; this wouldn't be a one bottle of rum situation if I lived there.

Y'all have my empathy, this shit can't be easy.
- I would try to convince my blue state to split from America..
honestly wish I could just pass out til Saturday or whatever.
- Rum can help you with that.

Also the US on election day.

I am not going to be sober if it turns out we have to deal with Trump (or notorious couch-fucker JD Vance) for another 4 years

If the fascists capture the executive branch again, they're not going to give it up in 4 years, no matter what. They're ready this time.

Yeah I should have said "at least 4."

What you said is exactly why I needed the rum in reserve
- Meh, he's going to kill the environment, put people in camps, escalate a war between Israel/Iran, cut Ukraine's support and get millions of innocent civilians killed, hurt the economys across Europe, assuming someone like Poland doesn't intervene to assist, but that will just draw further fighting.
  
  Tariffs raise our prices, the trade with Europe would have raised costs if there is further war... The labor market here will be decreased, raising prices, the undocumented immigrants paid 94 - billion in 2022 in taxes, and they expect to pay almost that much annually to deport them. So 180 billion dollars a year loss. "Tax cuts" on the rich and supposedly on the lower wages as well, meaning our national debt only goes up. If anything we learned from his first presidency he only spends more, and doesn't cut costs anywhere. Kennedy will tear apart the CDC... I give up.. I predict in 4 years he will have died from a heart attack, and this countrys economy will be shot
- You're going to need more rum, I'm afraid.
Trump came out said he shouldn't have left in 2020. He damn sure won't in 2028.
- Only death will remove him from office.

What's crazy to me is I don't even know who's in charge of England or any other country for that matter. But it seems the whole world pays attention when us idiots decide to elect another idiot to run the rest of us idiots. Says a lot about our country that the whole world pays attention to what dumbass thing we're about to do now LOL. In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody's okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.

What’s crazy to me is I don’t even know who’s in charge of England or any other country for that matter.

England is part of the UK and with no devolved government, so the Prime Minister of the UK is in charge. Currently Sir Kier Starmer.

Sorry, couldn't resist.
- You misspelled Kid Starver. I mean Queers Harmer
In my head I feel that those from other countries see our country like a really bad car accident that people drive by, slow down a bit and say oh gosh I hope everybody’s okay when in reality you know damn well none of us are okay.

… you said it, not me 😅 It's a combination of worry, horror and a sort of sick fascination.

But yeah the stereotypical joke of some Americans not realizing there's a world beyond their borders does have some truth to it. I guess it's sort of understandable given just geographical facts alone (let alone hegemonic status): continental US of A only has 2 countries as neighbors and one of them mostly speaks the same language, where in continental Yurop you can probably hit 4 countries with 7 languages on a 6h drive.
Well, POTUS is not just a national polititian, they do international politics as well. They influence the whole world directly in a big way. People from many other countries feel the same as Americans.
I have been unduly interested in US politics since 2016.

The last Trump presidency emboldened crazies and the right wing here in NZ. Our current government is acting far more right wing than any in the past 30 years. 30 years ago, there were other reasons for the moves that were made....this time it seems to be because FUCK YOU if you are not already rich.

I really wish that US politics wasn't so important for the rest of the world....but it really is. It sucks!

If Trump wins again, then I see a further strengthening of the global right. As it is, it is going to take a generation to reverse some of the issues currently being created.
Part of the issue is that Europe largely relies on US media - e.g. there isn't really a European or French/German/Polish/... equivalent of Reddit or Twitter (unless you count the national Lemmy and Mastodon servers, but those are pitifully small compared to Reddit).

I drank a whole bottle of rum back on Election Day 2016 and was hungover for 2 days. I've already blocked out the next few days on the calendar.

15 years ago I worked at a small gaming startup and after some party or another my boss was hung over for two days, and he said that it's totally a thing that happens when you get older. Being a dum idjit I didn't believe him.

I do now.

Totally planning on being sick tomorrow and having to call out of work.

Either I'll be happy drinking and don't want to spoil the joy by having to go to work.

Or I'll be shitfaced, and totally hungover.

Well fuck.

Can't you just increment the election cycle by 1 year, so that the rest of us don't have to deal with this shit that often?

Oh, I forget... That requires consensus between two parties that hate each other...

It's more like one party constantly tries to reach their hand across the aisle in compromise only to let it get slapped away every time.

Americans can drink too just not until they vote.

Technically 3 years after they can legally vote
Wait, they can't vote if they're drunk?
- No, but they shouldn't be driving to the polls.
  
  And this is America, so driving is usually the only option

I was drinking no matter who won TBH

Harris wouldn't exactly be someone I'd want to vote for myself, but being all the way Over Here™ she wouldn't have been nearly bad enough for me to start shovign 0.75L of rum into myself after not sleeping a wink at 10am.

Winners' breakfast

Let's see how the US (I mean... Pennsylvania) votes...

Any state could change colors at any time. It's just that the overwhelming majority of the population in most states will not listen to any amount of evidence that shows what the consequences of their choice will be. They stick to their tribe. End of discussion. So only in the states where the two tribes are roughly equal in size will we see any excitement in the election

Its the greatest sporting event of the century.

i mean, even if they conced without objections they'll still be politically active. the 4 year campaign year starts now.

Oh yeah it's going to be a temporary reprieve at best, unfortunately fascists don't disappear even if they lose an election

I in the EU feel rather happy because:

-This will mean we will increasingly think before accepting any advice and policy from the US

-A lot of pro-US people here will be stunned and have to reposition

-Too bad for the US, but the "leader of the free world" and "great democracy" narrative is dead

-Less economic reliance on the US will mean we need to improve relationships with the non-western world

-War in Ukraine is probably over

Sorry Americans, start fighting for real rights (universal healthcare is possible), and maybe a third party is not such a bad thing.

I'm gonna bet there are huge portions of the world that don't give a shit and won't hardly notice or care.

You don't say?

https://youtu.be/csn2CIWPVbM?si