Once Bitten, Twice Shy: American Embassies in Europe Cancel Election Watch Parties

By Bob Hoge | 10:15 PM on November 05, 2024

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While we anxiously await election outcomes in the United States, diplomats and officials in European capitals canceled parties across Europe after many of them were awkwardly shocked by Donald Trump's defeat of Hillary Clinton in 2016.

They don't want a repeat:

In stark contrast to pre-pandemic ballots, U.S. election night 2024 promises to be a sober affair in Europe, with U.S. officials in most European power centers having ditched the usual festivities. Embassies from Brussels to London, Paris and Berlin have decided against holding their usual watch parties.
The reason? The Trump effect. Many officials are still smarting from the shock 2016 election, when Donald Trump unexpectedly beat Hillary Clinton for the presidency — a political earthquake that left many top members of America’s diplomatic corps exposed as they absorbed the stunning election results in the presence of hundreds of journalists, foreign diplomats and officials who had been invited to election night parties.

Think they might have gotten a heads up?

U.S. embassies in Europe cancel election parties.https://t.co/LXvA2VcqZF pic.twitter.com/jWeInwpPZG
— Tony Seruga (@TonySeruga) November 5, 2024

The memories of 2016 still haunt them to this day:

“I don’t think there was appetite to watch another Trump victory,” said a senior diplomat based in Europe, adding that the 2016 embassy events had been “calamitous.”
That cringe moment was captured by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, who recalled in her autobiography how she had invited all female ambassadors to the U.N. to her residence for an election night bash only to watch her dreams of America’s first woman president go up in smoke.
Similar scenes played out in embassies across Europe.

As the results poured in, many back then were left melancholy as they realized that Donald Trump was headed to victory. Instead of saying, "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to," they're just not going to hold them in the first place:

Attendees enjoyed wine and amuse-bouches as they watched the results roll in on giant TV screens. But as it became apparent voters were breaking for Trump, the mood darkened; one woman wept quietly. Trump’s poll-defying win revived uncomfortable Brussels bubble memories of the shock Brexit referendum result a few months earlier.

Sorry, not sorry.

This video of election eve, 2016, is delicious. Hillary was already celebrating her win and Democrats and media declared Trump had no chance of winning. And then it all turned sour for Hillary & her acolytes. This is her legacy. pic.twitter.com/uBixXRplKa
— Polly Tickal (@BubblesToBurst) August 8, 2023