In Tel Aviv, Clinton supporters’ hope gives way to tears

With heads shaking and four-letter words muttered in disbelief, Democrats in Israel watched the election results projected on a wall in Tel Aviv’s chic Abraham Hostel early Wednesday morning.

Things weren’t going going the way they’d expected.

Hillary Clinton, long considered the favorite in the 2016 presidential election, got off to a limping start and didn’t rebound with overwhelming victories in the states where she had to.

“I stayed up all night to watch this?” the maybe two dozen Clinton supporters asked each other rhetorically as dawn broke on the White City.

As of 7:45 a.m., Clinton trailed 215 electoral college votes to 238.

“I wish it were wrapped up already, but I’m still optimistic,” Tali Zinger, the head of Democrats Abroad Israel, said.

The Democrats sat in the dark on mismatched loungers and rocking chairs, on hammocks suspended from the ceiling and love swings. The disappointment and shock could be clearly seen on their faces, illuminated by the smartphone and computer screens they were using to frantically refresh the New York Times and FiveThirtyEight website to track the latest predictions.

Periodically, Joachim, a mustachioed Norwegian man with a tattoo of socialist guerrilla leader Che Guevera on his bicep, shouted curses in his native tongue at the screen.

“How are Americans so stupid?” he asked. It wasn’t a rhetorical question; Joachim wanted answers.

“I’ve been to 50 countries. I’ve met Americans. I thought they were intelligent. Is this possible?” he asked.

Zinger, her eyes glued to CNN and her pregnant belly bulging out of a blue Clinton-Kaine T-shirt, said she didn’t think a Trump victory was assured.

“American voters will vote for optimism and a diverse future, not the racist and divisive rhetoric that Trump has been putting out,” she said.

Shifra Sered, a Massachusetts native living with her girlfriend in Tel Aviv, didn’t share Zinger’s hope.

With tears in her eyes, Sered said she was imagining a grim future for the United States.

“I’m really scared of what will happen to America. I fear internment camps for Muslims. I fear mass deportations,” she said.

“I’m not scared for me. I live here. I’m scared for my neighbors,” she added.

In addition to those perhaps far-fetched outcomes, Sered said she was worried about issues that were more likely to come up in the next four years, namely the nomination of a new US Supreme Court judge and potential reforms to social security and welfare programs.

“I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say that these policies can kill people,” Sered said.

‘We have to love each other, and not in a shmaltzy, hippy way, but actually’

After watching the results come in for an hour, she and her girlfriend said they had to leave. Sered had to go to her job with a human rights organization, and her girlfriend had to get to school.

They planned on getting together with friends to console one another should Donald Trump indeed win the election.

“We have to love each other,” Sered said, “and not in a schmaltzy, hippy way, but actually.”

She took some solace in the passage of several ballot measures she supported in Massachusetts, but not enough to prevent the tears.

The pair left, but the core group of a little more than 20 Democrats remained in their seats as the sun rose and filled the hall.

They weren’t going anywhere, Zinger said.

“We’re here until it’s over — or until they kick us out.”