Democratic Party attacks and its efforts to impeach US President Donald Trump are driving expatriate Americans to support him ahead of the November presidential election, according to officials from Republicans Overseas.
Created in 2013, Republicans Overseas (RO) is a tax-exempt political association aimed at representing the interest of Republican Party supporters living abroad, with specific aims including the repeal of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires that US nationals living abroad pay taxes to both their country of residency and to the US government.
In an interview with Arabian Business, RO’s Oregon-based CEO and vice chairman, Solomon Yue said that the Democrat’s impeachment of Trump and long-running criticism “backfired big time”, driving many otherwise undecided expatriate voters towards the Republican camp.
The impeachment and controversy surrounding Trump’s dealings with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, he said, have highlighted what he termed “a high level coup d’etat’ against the President by his political opponents and backers in the American security apparatus.
“That part has been exposed, and everyone has realised,” he said. “Since he’s been a candidate, they’ve tried sabotage him and torpedo his campaign.”
On December 18, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach the president, with the articles of impeachment saying that Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his rivals while withholding $400 million in security aid, as well as obstruction of Congress.
The President has denied any wrongdoing.
Voter confidence
According to Yue, any efforts to attack Trump will ultimately be overcome by strong voter confidence in the US economy.
“The economy is great,” he added. “People predicted the economy would tank, but it’s good.”
Yue’s views were echoed by Dr. Steven Anderson, a member of Republicans Overseas’ UAE chapter who used to serve as its chairman.
Dr. Anderson believes that the Trump administration has highlighted “so many issues” for Americans, particularly anti-administration bias in the media.
“This is going to be a very contentious, very hard fought election. A lot of people are going to come out to vote,” he said.
“There are people that blame Trump for the weather. He’s blamed for literally everything under the sun. [Those people] are out in force,” he said. “There are also people who have benefitted from what Trump has done to the economy of the United States. They, in turn, are out in force.”
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