Together with AIA Fellow John Austin, Senior Fellow at the Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College, the Academy was a guest of the NRW-USA Parliamentary Friendship Group in the Düsseldorf State Parliament. After a brief introduction by our Director Mayssoun Zein Al Din, the members of parliament, moderated by Chair Angela Freimuth, discussed with John Austin the Trump administration’s record to date and what this means for international relations.

John Austin placed particular emphasis on analyzing the causes. For over two decades, he has been dealing with the consequences of economic change in the Midwest of the USA and analyzing the consequences of the structural change of the “heartlands” observed there on Western democracies. These connections are also of great significance for important regions in North Rhine-Westphalia. He impressively pointed out how proud working-class voters were of their identity and how susceptible they are to ethnonationalist and isolationist propaganda in the face of economic decline, which someone like Donald Trump in particular knows how to combine with nostalgic feelings. The role of the media in this context was also critically examined. However, John Austin and Chair Angela Freimuth continued to call for a healthy optimism and a strengthening of the transatlantic partnership at all levels, especially in view of the major challenges ahead.