Greek Americans uneasy over Biden
Leading officials, important donors and regular supporters of the Democratic Party have been on tenterhooks in recent days after Joe Biden’s disappointing performance in the televised debate with presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Even though the panic that was created is probably overblown given that the 81-year-old US president’s deterioration did not happen overnight but has been evident for the past two years at least, this has been the mood over the past week, and the Greek-American community is no exception.
Many of its members who voted for the president find themselves in a quandary.
On the other hand, much of the Greek diaspora in the US – probably the majority, though there is no hard data to back this – support Trump and are now much more optimistic of his winning again. Still, quite a few among them would have preferred a different Republican candidate.
In conversations this past week in Washington and nearby cities, it has become apparent that Americans of Greek descent who voted for Biden in 2020 and detest Trump are unsure what they’ll do now. Many say that even though they appreciated many of the policies the president has pursued, they cannot vote for him in his current state.
There are also those leaning towards the third candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr, who is currently polling at around 10% and has few chances of being elected.
Essentially, though, if the election depended on the Greek-American vote, Trump’s victory would be resounding – at least as things stand now.
The landscape may change significantly, however, if a new Democratic candidate emerges and wins back those who turned their backs on Biden, along with moderate Republicans who are not happy with Trump’s antics and who are willing to explore an alternative, if it is from the moderate wing of the Democratic camp.
Be that as it may, both sides currently believe a Trump victory to be the most likely outcome and are therefore examining what his return to the White House may mean for Greece. Here, too, there seems to be some convergence among Greek Americans on both sides of the aisle who think that despite Trump’s explosive and unpredictable manner, Greek-American relations were excellent during his presidency.
Indeed, ties were strengthened and deepened during the tenure, on the Greek side, of both Alexis Tsipras and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, growing into a strategic alliance.
Nevertheless, what they also agree on is that there is good reason to be concerned by the chemistry that seems to prevail between two men with common characteristics like Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with all the risks that this entails.
