in the era of Trump 2.0.

Trump is the most famous person in the world.

Trump is the most powerful person in the world.

Trump love him or hate him has made massive changes to America's role in the world.

Everyone you meet is going to know about Trump and have an opinion about him.

In my view, that puts Americans of different kinds in a rather awkward social position while abroad.

So the intention of this topic is to discuss suggested etiquette when Americans meet a new person abroad (in this case mostly Thailand).

It's meant for both Americans and non-Americans and also pro and anti-Trump people.

Based on polling (refer to Pew Research) the vast majority of people globally are anti-Trump (except for a very few nations) and now Trump with historically low approval ratings doesn't enjoy majority support among Americans either. So you might be able to make some general assumptions about how most people are going to think, but you won't know in advance. Also as we're in Thailand, Thais generally do not usually appreciate foreigners discussing Thai politics with them and they are generally not looking well upon foreigners trashing their own governments to them.

So in a sense the etiquette guidelines may be very different based on the nationality that an American encounters.

Examples of these differences:

American meets a Thai (discussed above)

American meets a Brit

American meets a Hollander

American meets a Russian

American meets an Iranian

etc.

So of course this is very situational.

But even so, it's something that I'm sure most Americans abroad are thinking about and dealing with these days. I'm especially curious about what non-Americans think Americans should say about it to them upon meeting, if anything at all.

14 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

in the era of Trump 2.0.

Trump is the most famous person in the world.

Trump is the most powerful person in the world.

Trump love him or hate him has made massive changes to America's role in the world.

Everyone you meet is going to know about Trump and have an opinion about him.

In my view, that puts Americans of different kinds in a rather awkward social position while abroad.

So the intention of this topic is to discuss suggested etiquette when Americans meet a new person abroad (in this case mostly Thailand).

It's meant for both Americans and non-Americans and also pro and anti-Trump people.

Based on polling (refer to Pew Research) the vast majority of people globally are anti-Trump (except for a very few nations) and now Trump with historically low approval ratings doesn't enjoy majority support among Americans either. So you might be able to make some general assumptions about how most people are going to think, but you won't know in advance. Also as we're in Thailand, Thais generally do not usually appreciate foreigners discussing Thai politics with them and they are generally not looking well upon foreigners trashing their own governments to them.

So in a sense the etiquette guidelines may be very different based on the nationality that an American encounters.

Examples of these differences:

American meets a Thai (discussed above)

American meets a Brit

American meets a Hollander

American meets a Russian

American meets an Iranian

etc.

So of course this is very situational.

But even so, it's something that I'm sure most Americans abroad are thinking about and dealing with these days. I'm especially curious about what non-Americans think Americans should say about it to them upon meeting, if anything at all.

I see you meeting someone for the first time and shouting, "I hate Trump," while shaking hands.

American meets a Russian:

American “Ahh comrade, who are you annexing dis veek ?”

It's 7am for God's sake. Were you ruminating sleeplessly over this all night?

But I see your dilemma. How will you know if the Venezuelan you meet in Pattaya is pro-Trump or not?

31 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

in the era of Trump 2.0.

Trump is the most famous person in the world.

Trump is the most powerful person in the world.

Trump love him or hate him has made massive changes to America's role in the world.

Everyone you meet is going to know about Trump and have an opinion about him.

In my view, that puts Americans of different kinds in a rather awkward social position while abroad.

So the intention of this topic is to discuss suggested etiquette when Americans meet a new person abroad (in this case mostly Thailand).

It's meant for both Americans and non-Americans and also pro and anti-Trump people.

Based on polling (refer to Pew Research) the vast majority of people globally are anti-Trump (except for a very few nations) and now Trump with historically low approval ratings doesn't enjoy majority support among Americans either. So you might be able to make some general assumptions about how most people are going to think, but you won't know in advance. Also as we're in Thailand, Thais generally do not usually appreciate foreigners discussing Thai politics with them and they are generally not looking well upon foreigners trashing their own governments to them.

So in a sense the etiquette guidelines may be very different based on the nationality that an American encounters.

Examples of these differences:

American meets a Thai (discussed above)

American meets a Brit

American meets a Hollander

American meets a Russian

American meets an Iranian

etc.

So of course this is very situational.

But even so, it's something that I'm sure most Americans abroad are thinking about and dealing with these days. I'm especially curious about what non-Americans think Americans should say about it to them upon meeting, if anything at all.

Be it Americans or not, we useally do not flag out politics first meeting, but those who do, starts talking about emigration first, and then you know,

And then you have the Americans who almost excuse themself for being American right now, or even during beginning of war on terror.

Here’s an insight.

In the week after the J6 attack on the U.S. Capitol I attended a dinner party hosted by an American and at which there were 7 Americans and a handful people of other nationalities, Swiss, German, British and Australian.

Over four hours of eating, drinking and chatting together.

Not one American mentioned the attack on Capitol, though the absence of the subject was being quietly discussed amongst the other nationalities.

[edit] all these people have known each other for a number of years and regularly socialize together. They are not strangers to each other.

Most non-Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works. Hell, most Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works! No idea of how the Electoral College works, or even what it's supposed to do for an election.

The common reply is 'the people voted in trump,' but that really wasn't the case at all, was it. He was elected by the Electoral College, which did not follow the popular vote. trump lost the popular vote by 2.5 million votes, but the Electoral College did NOT vote that way.

They were supposed to follow the popular vote. They did not.

The Electoral College was the perfect way to deal with elections when the population of the US was less than 4 million people, all located along the East Coast of America. It doesn't work so well with 342 million people scattered in different densities all across the USA.

3 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

Most non-Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works. Hell, most Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works! No idea of how the Electoral College works, or even what it's supposed to do for an election.

The common reply is 'the people voted in trump,' but that really wasn't the case at all, was it. He was elected by the Electoral College, which did not follow the popular vote. trump lost the popular vote by 2.5 million votes, but the Electoral College did NOT vote that way.

They were supposed to follow the popular vote. They did not.

The Electoral College was the perfect way to deal with elections when the population of the US was less than 4 million people, all located along the East Coast of America. It doesn't work so well with 342 million people scattered in different densities all across the USA.

How many counties have a direct election of the chief executive?

I don't talk politics or religion with random people.
Personally, I don't care what anyone else thinks

4 minutes ago, Effective altruism said:

How many counties have a direct election of the chief executive?

Good question. How many, and what does that have to do with the Electoral College?

Talk about something else. Simple really.

18 minutes ago, FolkGuitar said:

Good question. How many, and what does that have to do with the Electoral College?

What does this have to do with the EC? The EC is an indirect election of the chief executive.

Only four western counties have a direct election of the President.

50 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Here’s an insight.

In the week after the J6 attack on the U.S. Capitol I attended a dinner party hosted by an American and at which there were 7 Americans and a handful people of other nationalities, Swiss, German, British and Australian.

Over four hours of eating, drinking and chatting together.

Not one American mentioned the attack on Capitol, though the absence of the subject was being quietly discussed amongst the other nationalities.

[edit] all these people have known each other for a number of years and regularly socialize together. They are not strangers to each other.

Just goes to show you. USA is No 1 in topics around the world.

American pretends to be Canadian

40 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Just goes to show you. USA is No 1 in topics around the world.

Volume not quality.

53 minutes ago, Bannoi said:

American pretends to be Canadian

I've been considering that. Now, I give a one-line statement about how I lean on the current issue, then say, "It's best we talk about something else."

4 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

Most non-Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works. Hell, most Americans have no idea of how the American voting system works! No idea of how the Electoral College works, or even what it's supposed to do for an election.

The common reply is 'the people voted in trump,' but that really wasn't the case at all, was it. He was elected by the Electoral College, which did not follow the popular vote. trump lost the popular vote by 2.5 million votes, but the Electoral College did NOT vote that way.

They were supposed to follow the popular vote. They did not.

The Electoral College was the perfect way to deal with elections when the population of the US was less than 4 million people, all located along the East Coast of America. It doesn't work so well with 342 million people scattered in different densities all across the USA.

Uh, I think he did. By 2.3 million votes, or about 1.5%.

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Volume not quality.

When America speaks, the world listens. There's bound to be a little jealousy.

3 hours ago, Bannoi said:

American pretends to be Canadian

Please don't. We can tell in about 30 seconds.

Just now, EVENKEEL said:

When America speaks, the world listens. There's bound to be a little jealousy.

We have to, we don't know what the American leader's next daft move will be.........😬

1 minute ago, transam said:

We have to, we don't know what the American leader's next daft move will be.........😬

Not to worry. I'll wager ole Blighty is safe.

As Trump does not run a restaurant or trendy new coffee shop, and is not in a Korean boy band, 99.9% of the Thai population will not have a view.

As a Brit, I'm just jealous that the US leader has some balls.

6 hours ago, Effective altruism said:

I see you meeting someone for the first time and shouting, "I hate Trump," while shaking hands.

I would consider that to be poor etiquette. As foreigners abroad of any nationality, we are perhaps in some sense ambassadors to our nationalities. As the USA is now ruled by an incredibly undiplomatic leader, that creates a real challenge for Americans who don't want to behave as atrociously as our president. I can't speak for the minority of Americans that admire Trump's style. They can speak for themselves.

5 hours ago, HighPriority said:

American meets a Russian:

American “Ahh comrade, who are you annexing dis veek ?”

A fair humorous observation.

The USA under Trump is becoming more like Putin's Russia than our classic small l liberal western democracy allies.

That is very alienating to what I consider decent Americans that still have the pre-Trump values.

How to communicate that to foreigners if at all? I don't have the answers.

To continue on the Americans meeting Russians abroad topic, I think there are some commonalities between Americans and Russians. Both nationalities well understand that their leaders are widely despised internationally (and both for good but different reasons). So from the POV of an American meeting a Russian, there is perhaps a two way dance. What kind of Russian is this? What kind of American? Or probably more commonly aggressively avoiding talking politics at all.

6 hours ago, Oliver Holzerfilled said:

It's 7am for God's sake. Were you ruminating sleeplessly over this all night?

But I see your dilemma. How will you know if the Venezuelan you meet in Pattaya is pro-Trump or not?

Interesting example.

The last time I had a conversation with a Venezuelan was with a Venezuelan expat in Mexico many years before their refugee crisis. Interestingly, he told me that even though he was a productive successful entrepreneur he often experienced hostility from Mexicans along the lines of what are you even doing here?

Fast forward to today, I would have no problem whatsoever talking to a Venezuelan I might meet now. Nothing could be simpler really. I would simply say I am sorry Trump doesn't care at all about furthering democracy there and only cares about your oil.

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

in the era of Trump 2.0.

Trump is the most famous person in the world.

Trump is the most powerful person in the world.

Trump love him or hate him has made massive changes to America's role in the world.

Everyone you meet is going to know about Trump and have an opinion about him.

In my view, that puts Americans of different kinds in a rather awkward social position while abroad.

So the intention of this topic is to discuss suggested etiquette when Americans meet a new person abroad (in this case mostly Thailand).

It's meant for both Americans and non-Americans and also pro and anti-Trump people.

Based on polling (refer to Pew Research) the vast majority of people globally are anti-Trump (except for a very few nations) and now Trump with historically low approval ratings doesn't enjoy majority support among Americans either. So you might be able to make some general assumptions about how most people are going to think, but you won't know in advance. Also as we're in Thailand, Thais generally do not usually appreciate foreigners discussing Thai politics with them and they are generally not looking well upon foreigners trashing their own governments to them.

So in a sense the etiquette guidelines may be very different based on the nationality that an American encounters.

Examples of these differences:

American meets a Thai (discussed above)

American meets a Brit

American meets a Hollander

American meets a Russian

American meets an Iranian

etc.

So of course this is very situational.

But even so, it's something that I'm sure most Americans abroad are thinking about and dealing with these days. I'm especially curious about what non-Americans think Americans should say about it to them upon meeting, if anything at all.

A random American tried to speak to my pal in a bar last Friday. We both ignored him until he wandered off mouthing curses.

Never speak to strange men!

1 hour ago, EVENKEEL said:

When America speaks, the world listens. There's bound to be a little jealousy.

It's not out of jealousy.

Now, it's out of fear.

It used to be out of respect.

6 hours ago, Hummin said:

Be it Americans or not, we useally do not flag out politics first meeting, but those who do, starts talking about emigration first, and then you know,

And then you have the Americans who almost excuse themself for being American right now, or even during beginning of war on terror.

Possibly I didn't communicate this well enough.

I didn't intend to limit this issue to first meeting.

If you share your nationality to someone new on an elevator that is so superficial that any of talk of politics would usually be silly.

If you're doing some business in Thailand and need to show your passport, that's not a sane time for political commentary.

But there comes a point with encountering new people, could be the first meeting, could be later, where it's normal and natural to at least start dancing around the area of what kind of person is this? It's my contention that most foreigners these days in that context would want to know that American's view on Trump. Am I wrong about that?

57 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Not to worry. I'll wager ole Blighty is safe.

As the robber baron seems to go after high value targets only I'm not sure that's something I'd brag about, so maybe you should hold off on your EU reentry application until Trump is not a factor anymore.😆