Update USA by Dr. Hünemörder

Dr. Markus Hünemörder, an assistant professor at the LMU Munich, presented the current situation in the US informing Q12 students about the ongoing social division and political polarization, as well as the shocking effects of Donald Trump’s second term. 

By incorporating entertaining media such as cartoons and comedy shows Dr. Hünemörder kept the presentation funny and interesting while still conveying important information. 

Starting with an explanation of basic political concepts of the USA lay the foundation of everything that was still ahead. Mr. Hünemörder explained the key elements and consequences of the MAGA agenda, detailing how Trump influences the news and broadcasting companies and how he pushed for the development of ICE.

We either learnt something new or refreshed what we knew already, so the one and a half hours were worth it.

E. Kempf, Q12

Dr. Hünemörder’s presentation was interesting, easy to understand and entertaining. It was nice to learn about the current state of the US and to try and decipher Trump’s intentions behind his inconsistent strategies. We learnt about the challenges NATO faces, especially also with fake news rolling in. 

Furthermore, I liked the way he presented the information, which was well structured and full of interesting add-ons like video clips, which made it a lot easier to keep listening. Besides, I think it’s important to inform students about what is going on in the world in order to give them the possibility to form their own political opinions. 

In conclusion, it was an important and informative presentation, which I recommend to everybody.

A. Horhat, Q12

For the most part I didn’t really enjoy Dr. Hünemörder’s presentation, mainly because it was almost exactly the same one as last year’s, even down to the jokes.

Moreover, I didn’t find any of the information he gave new or profound, as most of it has already been talked about in the news and at school. Instead of giving a rough overview about the current situation he could have focused more on the reason why certain phenomena occur, i.e. the difference in voting results between rural and urban areas. Furthermore, I didn’t appreciate him saying that before the last election South Park only criticised the left and wokeness, which is plain wrong. South park has always criticised both sides of the political spectrum, for example President Bush and his war on Iraq. 

But you can’t deny that he has great rhetorical skills and is an expert on US politics, I just wish that expertise would have been used to show the full complexity of the aspects that he presented.

G. Avila, Q12