- “STOP THE COUNT!” Trump tweeted Thursday. “IT’S CALLED DEMOCRACY!” former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta wrote in response.
- Trump’s surprisingly strong showing, despite mishandling the coronavirus pandemic, has left many foreign observers bewildered and asking whether Trumpism is here to stay.
- Deepening divisions worry U.S. allies and friends, but France’s foreign minister said he has “faith in U.S. institutions validating the results of the election.”
- Stock markets around the world held up on Thursday despite the uncertainty. Asian markets closed up across the board Wednesday, and European indexes all advanced in midday trading.
Amid the slow count, America’s global image as a model for other democracies to emulate has taken yet another battering, especially among its allies around the globe.
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(In Japan) The Mainichi newspaper said the events even called into question “the intrinsic value of democracy,” adding that “responsibility for fanning the divide and amplifying the confusion lies with Mr. Trump.”
The National, one of the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned English-language dailies, lamented the divisions in the United States amid the coronavirus pandemic, economic crisis and now the elections. “At a time when the nation should be pulling together with what the British would call Blitz spirit, the streets of many cities have been the setting for what appear to be the beginnings of civil strife,” it wrote in an editorial.
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Lawmakers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who had observed the U.S. election had criticized Trump’s comments, calling them “baseless” and warning that they “harm public trust in democratic institutions.
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“America has represented optimism, looking forward and ideas,” said Tatsuhiko Yoshizaki, chief economist at the Sojitz Research Institute in Tokyo. “And yet, over the past four years, we have come to see the dark side in the United States.”
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