There are so many glass ceilings that still need to be shattered in the US, and with Kamala, we broke three. She was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold the office of vice-president.
When my now-husband first came to visit me in the US in 2014, it coincided with the Swedish election. While in Florida, he learned that the Sweden Democrats had emerged as the third-largest party. This was my introduction to Swedish politics.
We got married in 2016, and I came to Sweden on November 9 of that year, the day after Donald J Trump had been elected president of the US.
I vividly remember sitting in the SAS lounge at Chicago O’Hare, holding my wedding dress, and discussing the state of the union with some Swedish businessmen there. I was in tears.
They couldn’t understand how we’d elected him. Didn’t he stand in opposition to the global norms of what any respectable leader should be? Was the American population really that ignorant? There was a stark disconnect between the international expectations of what we could be and our reality.
At least I could point to the electoral college as a reason. He hadn’t won the popular vote. But with that being the case, that raised a deeper question – what does American democracy truly represent? Is it even a democracy?
The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 brought a sense of relief. I watched it here in Sweden, champagne ready. It wasn’t that I was super excited about having another old white guy in the White House, but the fact that Trump was going to be out, and the VP was going to be a black woman – those things were exhilarating.
There are so many glass ceilings that still need to be shattered in the US, and with Kamala, we broke three. She was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold the office of vice-president. Society can only move forward through inclusivity.
Watching the political landscape from outside my native country has been challenging. Trump was able to appoint three Supreme Court justices, the reverberations of which will be felt for years to come. With another term, he could appoint more. Two years ago, Roe V. Wade was overturned. With reproduction rights for women, long fought for, now in dispute, what could be next?
Since Trump’s rise, it seems as though admitting to racism, bigotry, and sexism has become more acceptable. As if there was this loud shift in the zeitgeist of our age, harking back to an era of when the “ideals” of a nationalist right, dominated by wealthy men, defined social acceptability.
Some would say, living abroad, I have no right to interject my opinion on the politics of my home, but the political landscape of every developed nation affects all of us.
Recently I voted in the European Union election for the first time. Most of the Swedes I spoke to said they hadn’t voted, being more concerned with national issues. But these decisions affect who we are, collectively, as a society.
I was pleased to see a shift toward the left in the results from the EU vote here in Sweden, and ecstatic over similar outcomes in France.
Now that Kamala Harris is the likely presidential nominee for the Democrats after Joe Biden's gracious step aside, I only hope that my own country will not disappoint in November.
In recent conversations, I’ve brought up the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Project 2025’ and compared it to the rise of Nazi Germany. It doesn’t seem far-fetched to draw parallels with the current trajectory in the US.
However, despite being let down time and time again, I still feel a deep optimism that the US can make the right decision this November.
This is a column and the views are the author's own.