I went to a party last night where I saw some friends I haven’t seen since before the election. Sometimes it’s annoying to be the token Ami in the crowd. Multiple conversations went along these lines:

German acquaintance: So what do you think about the election?

Me: Sucks.

German acquaintance: How did you handle it?

Me: Got drunk

German acquaintance: Does it make you sad/nervous/scared?

Me: Yes

German acquaintance: Did you cry?

Me: Maybe. Too drunk to remember.

German acquaintance: How could this happen? Are they dumb? That couldn’t happen here.

Me: I don’t know. Yes and no. Look at the German State elections a few months ago where the super right-wing party won seats in the state parliament.

German acquaintance: How could a reasonable intelligent person vote for him?

Me: I don’t know. They were scared/uninformed/gullible.

German acquaintance: Don’t they see the news/Internet/TV? Don’t they see what’s going on?

Me: I don’t know. I guess not.

German acquaintance: Don’t they have any clue how this makes America look?

Me: I don’t know. I guess they don’t care.

German acquaintance: I heard there was Voter fraud with the electronic voter machines.

Me: I heard that too. I think it’s bullshit. However, I think they should carefully audit the results so that they can determine how accurate they really are and improve the software.

German acquaintance: Does it make you homesick?

Me: Hmm, equal parts “I miss my friends and family” and “I’m glad I’m over here”.

German acquaintance: Are you sick about talking about this?

Me: Yes. Shut up and dance, Arschkrampe.