Super Tuesday Fallout

Hi all, hope you’re having a great Reading Week wherever you are in the world. I’ve been in Edinburgh, Scotland for the past week. I woke up to the Super Tuesday results on March 2nd here in Edinburgh – due to the five hour time difference, it was unfortunately difficult to keep up with live updates so I eventually gave up after a while the night before. However, when I woke up the next morning it seemed as if the Twittersphere had exploded with political content.

Needless to say, I was terrified (but not particularly surprised) by Donald Trump’s impressive showing, winning Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. He now holds 329 of the 1,237 delegates required to win the Republican Party nomination – this is significant regardless of his politics (or lack thereof). Cruz continues to trail behind Trump with 231 delegates and continues to consider himself the best chance the Republican Party has to prevent a President Trump. However, in his speech on Tuesday night, Trump was still understandably confident with his shot at the White House and frankly I don’t blame him. I am resolved to the idea of Trump as the RNC candidate and this makes me sad for moderate Republicans around the USA and expats around the world who will face international fallout on behalf of this narcissistic, small-minded, bigoted man.

On the other hand, I woke up Wednesday morning pleased by Hillary Clinton’s results, having won Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. She now holds 1,058 of the 2,383 delegates required to win the Democratic Party nomination, compared to the 431 held by Bernie Sanders. This is all good and well for Clinton supporters like myself, but I was extremely concerned to learn that 2.6 million fewer Democrats voted on Super Tuesday than did Republicans. While this doesn’t make a difference during primaries in which Democrats vote against Democrats and Republicans vote against Republicans, this could have immense consequences come November. I will be paying attention to Democrat vs. Republican voter turnout in the upcoming primaries on March 5th, March 6th, March 8th, and March 15th. Until then, I’ll be finishing up my last few days here in Scotland and then you can be sure to return to my ranting and raving here on The Expat Elector.

With 248 days until the election,

Phoebe Warren