London-based writer Imogen West-Knights has penned an essay for Slate detailing how many in the United Kingdom are handling the prospect of a second Trump term and she has found that many people across the pond simply want to pretend it's not happening.
In particular, West-Knights has found that many Brits are engaging in a practice that she describes as "concentrated ignoring" in reaction to Trump's victory last year.
"Sure, here in the U.K. we all talked about the election after that guy tried to shoot Trump, and when Biden looked increasingly incapable of participating in the race," she writes. "But in general, I felt as if my peers and I, a group usually pretty engaged in politics both at home and abroad, had been more tapped out than usual."
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She goes on to speculate that many in the country are "clinging to the last moments when it will be possible to ignore" Trump before he's once against sworn into office.
In fact, one of West-Knight's friends explicitly acknowledged not wanting to confront the reality of a second Trump term and said, "From time to time, I remember that it’s happening and that the most powerful country in the world might have a mad fascist in charge again, and then I sort of recoil from paying attention."
However, she concludes by warning her peers that they cannot ignore Trump forever on the grounds that "when America s---s its pants, the whole world smells it."