While we anxiously await election outcomes in the United States, diplomats and officials in European capitals canceled parties across Europe after many of them were awkwardly shocked by Donald Trump’s defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016.
They don’t want a repeat:
In stark contrast to pre-pandemic ballots, U.S. election night 2024 promises to be a sober affair in Europe, with U.S. officials in most European power centers having ditched the usual festivities. Embassies from Brussels to London, Paris and Berlin have decided against holding their usual watch parties.
The reason? The Trump effect. Many officials are still smarting from the shock 2016 election, when Donald Trump unexpectedly beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency — a political earthquake that left many top members of America’s diplomatic corps exposed as they absorbed the stunning election…