“A little piece of you.. The little piece in me..Will die,” the British rockstar David Bowie sang in 1985. 

I was a young girl, in love with music, and for hours I played this song on my red cassette tape recorder, in my room with walls covered by the young Madonna.

The brilliant man was ahead of his time. Bowie’s song This is not America has never been so topical as these days. It reached the highest top of the hit lists in the Netherlands, 35 years ago. Is there any better theme song for the current US presidential election than this 1980s number-one hit song?

Last night I watched fragments of the debate broadcasted by The Guardian. I know, much has already been said about the first debate between President Donald Trump and candidate Joe Biden, but as a Dutch, European woman I feel sympathy with the Americans who want progress, collaboration, and unity. The values that are completely lacking right now in a country where separation has never been so sharply present.

Blossom fails to bloom this season.

Thanks to Trump’s hostility, bulkiness, rudeness, the getting personal, and the rattling like a madman, it made me sad to see that Biden couldn’t stay the wisest of the two and wasn’t well armored against Trump’s mud throwing. Biden went lower than he probably wanted by calling Trump a clown, telling him to shut up and saying he’s the worst U.S. president of all times. To observe the constant quarreling of these two old men that need to represent one of the most powerful democracies in the world, left me feeling miserable last night. 

There was a time. A wind that blew so young.

Of course, he made mistakes, as every president does, but the days we could see Barack Obama speak, oh, it was such a delight. Eloquently and presidential and so damn charming and classy. A distinctive man. 

So bloody red tomorrow’s clouds.

But don’t lose hope, don’t lose faith, see these red evening skies, and know better times are coming. Demand it.

Americans, your fight has just begun and you can do the only right thing and that is to get that disrespectful, aggressive man, that bully of a man, who is on a mission of war, not of peace like he proclaims, out. Vote him out. And you know what? With this civil duty, you do the rest of the world a pure favor. Because this is not America. This is not America. Please don’t go back to the dark ages. 

This is not America

Shala la la la

A little piece of you

The little peace in me

Will die

For this is not America

Blossom fails to bloom this season

Promise not to stare

Too long

For this is not a miracle

There was a time

A storm that blew so pure

For this could be the biggest sky

And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America

This is not America

This is not

Snowman melting from the inside

Falcon spirals

To the ground

So bloody red tomorrows clouds

A little piece of you

The little piece in me

Will die

For this is not America

There was a time

A wind that blew so young

For this could be the biggest sky

And I could have the faintest idea

For this is not America

This is not America

This is not

This is not America

This is not

This is not America

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