Starting with a provocative mind game, Mr Mukherjee declared himself to be a „benevolent dictator“ and offered to pay every subject a genererous amount as well as additional benefits in case he was elected for life. However, the students remained wary of this proposition and quickly detected the pitfalls of such a political system.

He went on to make clear that citizens of different countries experience very different political socialization, which, amongst many other factors, has led to the political culture of the US being much more patriotic than its German equivalent. A further point Mukherjee made is that the rhetoric of the election campaign is much more divisive than what Germans are used to - a development that started when Donald Trump ran against Hillary Clinton and that has subsequently only sped up with the result that the members of the opposing parties have become increasingly hostile towards each other.

 While it is difficult for most Germans to relate to Trump, a large part of the rural US population feels heard by him. People in the Midwest feel left behind by the political elite of their country and are looking to Trump to fix things.

Finally, Mukherjee encouraged the students to keep fighting against the confirmation bias, to not only reaffirm what you already believe, but to keep an open and critical mind.

Astrid Lang