Over the past few years, the US Congress and many agencies have been trying to determine whether Russia‘s Kremlin influenced the 2016 US Presidential race so that Donald Trump would be elected. With the Kremlin or without its help, the world now has an unpredictable president at the helm of the most powerful nation on earth who has managed to antagonize not only Americans against each other, but to also alienate the European Union from the US. Lies, fake news, selfishness and encouraging conflict should not be tolerated in politics, but Donald Trump seeks to make this the new normal.
However, “the emperor has no clothes” and we need to say this out loud even if the “emperor” is the leader of a powerful nation and has the ability to start a nuclear war simply by pressing a button.
It is for these reasons that I openly encourage all Europeans to involve themselves in the US presidential election campaign this Fall. And Europe can accomplish a lot. We can even help to determine who will be the president of the world’s most powerful country and the strongest ally of Europeans.
Looking back through history, we all know who laid the foundation for the United States. For the most part, they were immigrants from Europe who came from Germany and Ireland, Italy and France, Jews from Europe, England, and Spain, Greece and Poland, Scandinavia, as well as from Lithuania and many other countries that I have not mentioned. These same European Americans were the ones who rebuilt Europe after World War II.
As we know, the results of presidential elections in the US can be determined by just a small percentage of voters. According to the statistics of the US Census Bureau, more than 150,000 Americans identify themselves as being of European descent.
US statistics show that out of 300 million American citizens, more than 50 million are of German heritage, almost 36 million are of Irish descent, 28 million of British descent, almost 18 million of Italian heritage, more than 10 million from Poland, 9 million from France and so on. There are also millions of Americans who have Baltic roots.
All of these Americans of European descent will vote for and elect a new president of the United States.
This is why I believe that we can encourage them to vote and elect a just leader who has a strong set of fair values. The ideological differences between Republicans and Democrats are understandable, but Donald Trump does not represent any type of ideology.
All of us should appeal to our fellow countrymen and women in the diaspora from New York to Los Angeles to vote responsibly and vote for a president who will be a leader that unites, one who demonstrates responsibility for his own country and the world in which we all live. We should urge voters in the US to choose a candidate whose public speeches and tweets on Twitter citizens should not be ashamed to read.
Europe! It’s time to establish US presidential election campaign offices in Europe. Our slogan is, “Europe, Yes We Can!”
Artūras Zuokas
Friend of America
