Victoria Jelinek

USA Midterms 2026

Dear fellow Americans,

Please know that I’m reluctant to bring up current events with Americans living stateside, but because the impending midterm elections are crucial to the circumstances and events we collectively find ourselves in, I’m going to broach the subject of politics with you. This is in case you’re not hearing what is actually happening in the world, or you have been so inundated by the words and actions of Trump over the last many years that you have become apathetic or even depressed.

Please allow me a moment to let you know what is being said and felt and feared around the globe about the state of the USA helmed by Trump, both publicly and privately (in cafes, with neighbors, in the workplace, etc.). Because, as you know, and as Trump and his ilk very much know and are brandishing this about like a terrible weapon, the USA has overwhelming hard AND soft power that affects all of us.

I’ve lived abroad for 25 years now initially due to school, then work, then my family and I miss my native land, even as I suspect it’s not quite as I remember it. Over the decades, I’ve experienced dangerous American administrations which have prompted low key anti-Americanism here-and-there. But never during these years have I felt or heard the sentiments that are being vocalised now, in the private and public spheres, prompting me for the first time to wonder whether I need to say I’m Canadian to avoid being physically accosted.

Things are heated in Europe (and not because of the distracting news about “riots” in Paris). Life feels tense (please know there isn’t the culture of the 24 hour news cycles and the sensationalism of the news here as yet). The combination of frequent floods and, conversely, droughts, wild fires, war in Ukraine, war in Iran, and the American abandonment of alliances held since World War II in favour of allying with dangerous men, such as Putin and Netanyahu, for nefarious reasons, has prompted global unease. Because of these lethal variables, UK and European papers and governmental ministers are cautioning the populace that IF Trump doesn’t win the midterms, he’ll likely be more erratic on foreign policy and we’ll see an expansion of the Ukraine war as the current USA administration continues to side with Russia, as well as a dangerous, potentially a cataclysmic offensive, by the US in Iran. Friends and friends of friends in the Middle East and Asia who live and work there are being told to have a “run bag” packed and ready. We in Europe are being told by our governments to have wind up radios, batteries, blankets and enough canned food and water for three days at a time.

This is not about the price of petrol or how much your groceries cost these days. This is about whether water will run through faucets, food will be available on shelves, and electricity will be available for heat and cooking. At worst, this is about our families being sent to defend the borders of Europe against an entity that wants to “bury the West” and is emboldened by American might being on its side.

And this will come to your doorsteps, too. If not immediately, it will. Perhaps not in the same way, but perhaps it will be a mandatory draft of your children or spouses to war, or increased shortages of food and supplies. Or, simply, the inability to holiday and travel as you once did. If there is not the appetite to impeach this president, then you need to try to put some ‘brakes’ on this self serving, cruel, and volatile administration and the technocrats who are financing it.

So, please vote. And report loudly and defend loudly any violation of the electoral process you witness. This administration is doing everything it can to defame and discredit the democratic process of voting in anticipation of an overwhelming loss for its cronies, and to halt the ease and safety of voting for constituents, but please make it absolutely unequivocal to this corrupt administration that Americans are not what they appear to be from outside the states, which is a country that has voted this plague upon us all in (repeatedly) and don’t seem to care what’s happening outside of the country. Reassure us all that Americans are, indeed, not the bloated, greedy, thoughtless people that the world is beginning to think we are, and are, instead, the America and the Americans I have known: brave, ingenious, and hopeful.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. If you’ve voted already, and your vote was counted, great.

If you want to send me abusive comments for whatever reason, please don’t. I’m not a “woke” ideologue or a soft “liberal snowflake,” who deserves your vitriol — dismiss what I have said if you do not agree with it and simply engage elsewhere please.

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