Taiwan is Ready to Defend Democracy. Is Trump?
New op-ed in The New York Times
I am in Michigan this week, getting ready to experience a proper Midwestern American Thanksgiving with lots of football, mashed potato, and tryptophan naps. And probably some arguing about politics. Political debate at family gatherings is a pretty universal experience, but I’ve never sat at the dinner table with a New York Times byline to my name before.
On Sunday, I had my second op-ed published in The New York Times. I had been working on an essay about the importance of humor to a functioning democracy, but then Trump got elected and kickstarted an existential crisis for millions around the world. My editor asked me if I would be open to writing about what a Trump presidency would mean for Taiwan instead.
Two things were top of mind while I was writing it. One, imposter syndrome: Am I really qualified to be talking geopolitics? Should I be speaking on behalf of 24 million Taiwanese people? Why would anyone want to read about foreign policy from a stand-up comedian? And two… Why can’t I just be a stand-up comedian who knows nothing about geopolitics, OSINT (open-source intelligence), or narrative warfare?
I love writing. And I love doing stand-up comedy. Truth be told, I think working on this essay and hosting an all-female comedy show in the past week have done wonders for my mental health. I’m really lucky to have creative outlets that help me process big messy experiences. But doing a comedy show and then have your name under a military photo the next day feels so unserious.
Taiwanese people are hardly alone in the world in having our identity, sovereignty, and way of life challenged. It’s tiring, sure, but it’s also a privilege to have a lot of wonderful things worth fighting for. We’ve had a female president, legalized gay marriage, a RuPaul Drag Race winner, and we’ve just won gold in a world baseball championship against Japan.
So to my American friends who are still feeling the loss of the election, I hope you can remember the amazing things America embodies, still. I wish you can see the United States the way I still do, with an aspirational eye. And to my conservative friends, who were the ones I was writing for when I drafted this essay:
I know U.S. voters have a lot on their plates. I guess that’s why you voted for a president who promises to put America first. I get it; in some ways, Mr. Trump invokes the Hollywood presidents I grew up watching: bold, brash and rah-rah America. But I hope Americans are as committed to defending what their country really stands for — democracy — as we are in Taiwan.