‘What is going on, you guys?’ US expats face tough questions abroad.
Sufyan Katariwala, the son of Pakistani immigrants from St. Louis, voted for Donald Trump in 2016 because he calls himself a proud American nationalist, though he had doubts almost immediately and the pandemic has sealed his regret.
Now based in Toronto, he says he is constantly trying to explain his country’s dysfunctional politics to a confused Canadian audience.
“I never felt that I would have to assume this role … answering [the question] in all these discussions: ‘Jeez, what is going on, you guys?’” he says. “I’m fairly certain that, prior to 2016, if you were an American in many parts of the world, people would have been like, ‘That’s a cool place. I want to go there.’ Now it’s just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Like there’s pity.”
The reputation of the United States has faded across the globe this year, in large part thanks to the country’s failure to contain the coronavirus, and
“An American in Paris”“I felt safer being in this part of the world”Loss of respect for the American people?
