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Europeans bemused and dismayed by Donald Trump
"People are kind of stuck as slightly horrified spectators," said Ian Bond, director of foreign policy at the London-based Centre for European Reform. "Hoping that it turns out all right, but not having much influence over the outcome."
...After years of diplomacy, Clinton holds an advantage when it comes to European leaders. "Many probably found her to be a reliable, steady interlocutor,"analyst Bond said. "From that perspective, the trust issue is a much bigger hurdle for Trump in terms of future relationships with allies, than it is for Clinton."
..."This really adds to the sense that something horrendous has happened to the Republican Party. This is not the party of Ronald Reagan standing in Berlin and saying, "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall," analyst Bond said. "It's not the party of George H.W. Bush dealing with the consequences of the Cold War."
... The French president faces reelection next year and is battling abysmal ratings and Le Pen's sizeable appeal. "His excesses make you want to retch," Hollande told French reporters of Trump. "The last thing Hollande wants is Trump's anti-Muslim views to become respectable, because they rather parallel the sorts of things the National Front has to say," analyst Bond said. "The language may not be the same, but the appeal is."