Not since Pope John Paul II’s health woes a decade ago has the world been so focused on one person’s medical updates. Forced off the campaign trail for four days following a woosy exit from a 9/11 commemoration, Hillary Clinton has the global media zooming in on her every move.
The Democrat’s return to the public stage after recovering from pneumonia was front-page news Friday in Greek daily Kathimerini …
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… in Italy’s La Repubblica …
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… and in Turkey, where Hürriyet featured small photographs of Clinton waving and her rival Donald Trump giving an exclusive interview to American TV talk show host and medical expert Dr. Mehmet Oz, the son of Turkish immigrants …
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Worldcrunch continues to follow global coverage of the U.S. presidential campaign, less than two months from elections day.
The Democratic nominee’s revelation last Sunday that she had caught pneumonia raised new questions about both the health and truthfulness of the former Secretary of State — and rather suddenly moved the prospect of a Donald Trump victory much closer for those watching from abroad.
In Sweden, the Dagens Nyheter daily carried a story about the Swedish Minister for Higher Education Anna Ekström, who’d gotten pneumonia herself just before being appointed to the government. Ekström tweeted words of encouragement out to Clinton “My advice to Hillary: Rest, make sure to take breaks and come back!,” she tweeted.
Italian “land artist” Dario Gambarin, in the meantime, came up with a rather, well, down-to-earth response to the brouhaha surrounding Clinton’s health: a giant “Get Well” message that he carved into a field with a tractor. “You can, you must,” it reads, alongside an image of the candidate’s likeness.
Source: Dario Gambarin/Inside Edition screenshot
Though most sentiments in the international press clearly continue to favor a Clinton victory, some foreign observers are beginning to explore the secrets of Trump’s support — and imagine what a victory would look like.
North of the border, in Quebec, Le Journal de Montréal columnist Loïc Tassé — no great fan, apparently, of Trump — admits, nevertheless, that “the stars are aligning” for the Republican candidate. “It’s true, Clinton is in the lead. But her advantage is shrinking little by little,” he writes. The recent stumbling episode adds to her woes, according to Tassé, mostly because of her refusal to acknowledge the problem beforehand.
German weekly Der Spiegel said after Clinton’s health issues and other recent campaign mishaps, it’s now “Trump’s Hour.”
An old problem
Clinton’s health and credibility problems aren’t the only things working in Trump’s favor, argues Herman Matthijs in an opinion piece for the Belgian weekly Le Vif. The Republican also has a tough anti-terrorism message, which could resonate with voters, and the advantage of being new to politics. “He proposes new ideas, something the electorate always appreciates,” Matthijs writes.
The headline of an analysis from Chemi Shaliv on Friday in Israeli daily Haaretz summed up much of the sentiment: “A Trump Victory Suddenly Seems Possible, Though Still Unthinkable.”
Writing in Geneva-based Le Temps, Pierre-Marcel Favre looked at Trump from a slightly different angle. As harshly as the Republican can be criticized, observers — particularly watching from Europe — should be careful about how Trump is labeled, writes Favre. He’s a lot of things, but Donald Trump is not a fascist.
If he were to pull off an upset come November, Trump would — ironically, given the current focus on Clinton’s health — be the oldest person ever elected president of the U.S. The brash billionaire is 70, one year older than Ronald Reagan was when he came to office in 1981. Clinton (68), should she win, would be the second oldest. Democrats Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, possible replacements for Clinton if she were forced to drop out, are even older: 75 and 74 respectively. Either way, Argentina’s Urgente24 argues, America will become a “gerontocracy,” in which the ruling class is significantly older than most of the adult population.
In Sweden, Modern Psykologi takes a look at both Clinton and Trump’s presidential campaigns on a psychological level, putting the Donald on its cover under the headline “In Trump’s head.” The Republican candidate is surrounded by words like “ego”, “fear of dying”, “us & them”, “nationalism” and “terrorist threats”.
Regardless of the outcome, Trump’s strong showing throughout the campaign season should serve as a “warning to the world,” economist António Nogueira Leite writes in Portuguese newspaper Público. Leite sees the candidate’s success as evidence that recent U.S. presidents failed “to preserve the living standards of the past … and solve, or at least minimize, a whole series of other social issues that have been piling up.” The same could be said of leaders in Europe, he argues. The Old World, in other words, might be primed for their own Trumps.
Global indicators
The effects of Trump’s rise, even before the election, have already been felt south of the border. After last month’s impromptu invitation to Trump from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, newspapers reacted largely with disdain at both men. But since then, as Trump rises in the polls, there appears to be a direct impact on Mexico’s currency markets. The Mexican political review Proceso reported this week that when questions were raised this week about Clinton’s health, the Mexican peso took a hit.
Of course, the election results will reverberate in the real economy, and real world, as well. Cairo-based Al-Ahram, featured an analysis of how the Middle East policy of the two candidates might differ. Though there is no “Clinton Doctrine” vision that one can cull from her four years as Secretary of State, the Egyptian daily noted that she would likely continue current Middle East policy of “proxy war, but without direct military involvement,” in light of President Obama’s pivot towards Asia. As far as Trump’s often shocking policy statements on the campaign trail, Al-Ahram reassured its readers that “speeches of the American presidential candidates does not always get implemented on the ground after they take office.”
Even more broadly, Buenos Aires-based La Nacion featured an analysis of the White House showdown, arguing that the election is ultimately a referendum on nationalism (Trump) v. globalism (Clinton).
Needless to say when Americans are abroad, they are asked about the Trump vs. Clinton showdown. New York novelist Jay McInerny was in Mantova, Italy for the city’s annual literary festival, and was asked for some local insight on Trump. “He’s a clown who plays off people’s fears,” he said. And if he wins? McInerny didn’t hesitate: “I’ll come to live in Italy.”