The Question Most Asked at Oktoberfest 2024
'Has America lost its mind?'
Admittedly, it’s not easy writing today. The thoughts struggle a bit to form easily communicated ideas on my keyboard, and my fingers are hesitant to pick out the correct keys. Yesterday was a full day at the Oktoberfest. Five liters of wonderfully fresh beer and a couple of plates of grilled ox take a toll. With my head still beating from the music and my voice hoarse from singing, I woke up trying to recall how I answered THAT question. Was my answer sufficient enough?
Since arriving in Munich on Wednesday, I have been asked at least a dozen times, “Has America gone crazy? Why does it seem Trump can still win?” People laugh at us and at America but also fear what a Trump win could mean for the world.
Having this question asked repeatedly by so many people is not as surprising as it is annoying. With the music blaring and glasses clinking as you slide your knife and fork into the crispy half of a grilled chicken, that question cuts through the festivities and reaches you. A couple of times, I pretended that I missed the words. Smiling, I pounded my fist on the table and raised my rapidly disappearing Mass of beer into the air. Prost, I shouted!
“Why is America choosing Trump?” The question has been directed precisely at me. I can’t miss it and am forced to react.
Except for one table of shitheads from Serbia — it’s always the Serbians, folks — who chanted “Putin, Putin, Putin” and then “Trump, Trump, Trump,” the majority of people were appalled by Trump. They found him to be a grotesque caricature of all that is excessive and bad about America. Trump epitomizes the fear that the world has of a morally lost and violent America.
This is how people regard us. My first reaction is to declare my utmost disgust and hatred for Trump, but it’s kind of like the parents of a child who undertakes a school shooting offering up thoughts and prayers for the victimized children.
Trump is an offensive embarrassment to the Americans who came before us and to those of us trying to shoulder the responsibility of what it means to lead a troubled world through this period of tumult and climate catastrophe. The world is watching us, and it’s not laughing. We are frightening them, and it’s not because they think Trump is a great leader who will “make America great again.”
The is dumbfounded by how it seems we have lost our minds.