Round up of Antwerp America’s event with Mark Leibovich
March 14 | 18.30 PM @ Voka – Chamber of Commerce Antwerpen – Waasland
In a full auditorium of students, entrepreneurs and a variety of interested people, Antwerp America Foundation welcomed the well renowned and bestselling American political commentator Mark Leibovich on March 14th.
Mr Leibovich talked about his bestselling book ‘Thank You For Your Servitude’, that received a tremendous amount of acclaim in the United States and in Europe. “This is not another book about Trump”, Leibovich said. “This book analyzes how the republican party in the United States surrendered to Trump. It describes in detail the people who unwillingly enabled him to take power.”
During his talk Leibovich gave a painfully accurate description of the inner circles of power in the republican party, a self-sustaining ecosystem that thrives on its own. “One after another, Trump’s (republican) victims performed their rationalized devotion to their abuser.” Although they did not support him privately and even suffered his verbal abuse, many republican backbenchers and powerful figures did support Trump in public. “The heads-down approach of the GOP metastasized into many iterations of cowardice over four years”, Leibovich stated.
In an interesting turn the journalist then talked about the national bravery and patriotism displayed in Ukraine since the invasion of Russia. As bravery and patriotism was clearly lacking in his country during the Trump-administration, according to him.
With the next American presidential elections in sight in 2024, Leibovich is worried: will this mechanism of self-serving servitude allow Trump to make a come-back and win the republican nomination a second time around?
Afterwards, the American author answered questions from the audience and interacted with young and old.
