Republicans in the Netherlands think the US election "could not have been better"

Renee Nielsen of the Republicans Overseas organization has said “It could not have been a better election” about the victory of Donald Trump of the Republican Party at the presidential elections in the United States. Nielsen is from Minnesota and lives with her partner and children in The Hague. She is a spokesperson for the Dutch branch of Republicans Overseas, which is a point of contact for Republican Americans abroad.

The organization is very happy about the result especially because the Republicans also won a majority in the US Senate. “We have expectations,” Nielsen added. Trump made big promises regarding the nation’s economy. “He promised to lower energy costs by 50 percent and to become energy independent.”

She also pointed out the promises regarding immigration. Nielsen thinks that Trump will instantly close the borders for migrants.

Nielsen is hoping for a change to the tax rules for American citizens living abroad. Dutch citizens who also have US nationality sometimes have to pay taxes in the United States.

This may apply, for example, to children of Dutch people who lived in the US and started their family there, but no longer live there. “Those children are given a nasty letter when they are 18 telling them that they have to pay.” According to Nielsen, Trump has promised that he will change this policy.

Republicans Overseas is a small organization in the Netherlands, according to Nielsen. It currently has around 25 members. These are mainly people who work in the business world here and only stay for a short while.

Nielsen has lived in the Netherlands since 2013. Republicans Overseas helps Americans with questions about their stay in a foreign country.

There was no party scheduled for the election night of Tuesday on Wednesday, Nielsen said. She said that the members like to stay under the radar. “It's not necessarily seen as positive here if you support Trump.”

The Democrats Abroad party has stated that the democrats in the Netherlands and abroad are concerned about the election results. Tré Shawn Griffin-Noordermeer, the chairman of the Dutch branch of Democrats Abroad, said that he is nervous about the next two months in which the official election result will be confirmed. “I fear for how this is going to turn out for minorities and immigrants because Trump has shown that he does not care about them.”

Griffin-Noordermeer said that Kamala Harris’s loss was a blow to the Democrats but was now wholly unexpected. “We ran a good campaign but 100 days is the shortest campaign in the history of the presidential elections.”