Australians Watching American Politics: ???!!!!***$%%# – The New York Times

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Damien Cave, the Australia bureau chief.

Australians used to talk about American politics the way they talk about sport — they followed the ups and downs, marveled at the competitor, and tried to game out who would win.

This year? It’s more like the discussion of a car wreck involving a neighbor or an uncle.

For months, friends and even strangers have been asking if my relatives are healthy, worried they may have perished in the American coronavirus catastrophe. And this week, after a debacle of a debate and the news that President Trump and Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus, I saw and heard more than just empathy — also shock, dismay, fear, heartbreak and just head-shaking alarm.

Van Badham, a commentator who often writes for The Guardian (and occasionally the New York Times Opinion section), replied to my tweet about Mr. Trump’s positive test result with what many Australians seem to be feeling:

“I just

I can’t

I mean

What

Oh god”

I emailed Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s office right away seeking comment — and got nothing, at least for the moment. My guess: The power-brokers in Canberra were also trying to lift their jaws off the ground.

Earlier in the week, after the debate — in which Mr. Trump interrupted Joe Biden or the moderator 128 times, by one count — many Australians seemed eager to lend my fellow Yanks a hand. They offered therapeutic assistance, alcohol and an invitation to visit (or escape) to Australia, a country with national Medicare, unsolicited and easy mail-in voting and a successful response to the pandemic.

But all over the country (and the world), there were also signs of intensifying frustration. Michael Fullilove, who heads up the Lowy Institute and who wrote a book on Franklin Delano Roosevelt, offered an early and surly critique — “The words I missed most in that debate: ‘You’re on mute.’”

David Rowe, a political cartoonist for the Australian Financial Review, quickly published an illustration titled “undebatable” showing President Trump in clown shoes, shirtless, with a single phrase written on his body: “Me the people.”

When I asked Hugh White, a professor of strategic studies at the Australia National University, how he felt watching the debate, he said two emotions came to mind: dismay and sadness.

“Specifically, it renewed my bewilderment that over 40 percent of Americans are willing to contemplate a vote for Trump,” he said. “What does that say about their views of the presidency?”

He added that the policy-free back and forth also “reinforced my sense that Biden is indeed a very weak candidate, whose only claim to the presidency, as he himself acknowledged, is that he isn’t Donald Trump.”

And, he said, “it deepened my anxiety that the election result will be contested and chaotic.”

Jen Overbeck, a dual American-Australian citizen who teaches about power and management at Melbourne Business School, said that watching the campaign from afar has brought her closer to Australians, as together they share a mix of fear and helplessness.

“It’s been terrifying in a larger way to watch what’s happening in the U.S., the decline (or should I say assisted suicide) of legitimacy and Trump’s extraordinarily effective way of using raw power to destabilize and to break or re-form institutions in a very short time,” she said.

The U.S., she added, has been moving from a system of adversarial politics to one simply “fought on the grounds of raw power.”

What Mr. Trump’s diagnosis means for that approach — and the race in general — is very much an open question.

As our White House correspondents put it:

Mr. Trump’s positive test result could pose immediate difficulties for the future of his campaign against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his Democratic challenger, with just 33 days before the election on Nov. 3. Even if Mr. Trump, 74, remains asymptomatic, he will have to withdraw from the campaign trail and stay isolated in the White House for an unknown period of time. If he becomes sick, it could raise questions about whether he should remain on the ballot at all.

Looks like Australians, like the rest of us, will have a lot more to watch and react to between now and Election Day on Nov. 3.

Now here are our stories of the week.

Australia and New Zealand

• Jacinda Ardern Admits Past Cannabis Use. New Zealanders Shrug: ‘Us, Too.’ As a former marijuana smoker, the prime minister has plenty of company in New Zealand. But she stopped short of backing legalization in a referendum this month.

• How Coal-Loving Australia Became the Leader in Rooftop Solar: Embracing solar panels to save money, homeowners have made the country a powerhouse in renewable energy.

• A Teenage Producer With a TikTok Hit Brings New Zealand to the World Jawsh 685’s “Savage Love” became a global pop smash. Next up: graduating from high school and, hopefully, getting on a plane.

• Tasmania Whale Rescue Ends With 108 Saved and Over 300 Dead The whale beaching, one of the largest strandings ever recorded globally, prompted a five-day rescue effort.

• Abandoned Rio Tinto Mine Is Blamed for Poisoned Bougainville Rivers Residents of the Papua New Guinea region have accused the mining giant of environmental and human rights violations and asked for an investigation.

• The Best Movies and TV Shows New to Netflix, Amazon and Stan in Australia in October Our streaming picks for October, including “Rebecca,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor” and “Welcome to the Blumhouse.”

Around the Times

• How to Ask if Everything Is OK When It’s Clearly Not Look for signs of distress, check in on yourself, and other tips for tough times.

• Melting Ice Reveals Mummified Penguins in Antarctica Birds that appeared “freshly dead” near an Italian research base turned out to be centuries old.

• Tracking Viral Misinformation Ahead of the 2020 Election Every day, Times reporters will chronicle and debunk false and misleading information that is going viral online.

• A Spread Worthy of Royalty Banchan, the small dishes that often accompany a Korean meal, should be treasured in their own right.

… And Over to You

In last week’s newsletter about spring and the easing lockdown in Melbourne, Besha Rodell asked: How are you finding happiness these days? Here are two responses:

For me, just looking out the kitchen window to greener grass and a few pink flowers in my largely neglected backyard can make my repetitive days a little lighter.

— Andi Yu

I have drawn strength from the fact that previous generations have survived wars, famine and many illnesses without cure, and now we have to work together to get through this unexpected difficult period.

My family has decided to consciously appreciate little things in life that bring joy, and to make the most of the slower pace this year. We have voiced gratitude for living in a lovely city, for our home, family, and a determined government looking after our safety.

— Anina Fitzgibbon

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