Republicans jeer Clinton from Jerusalem bar

Thousands of miles from the festival of democracy in the US, a heavily Republican crowd at Mike’s Place in Jerusalem is chowing down on chicken wings, as Fox News blasts in the background, awaiting the first drips and drabs of the election night results.

Likud activist Osnat Maiden, an Israeli wrapped in an improvised American flag scarf, says she came in order to show her support for Trump.

“There’s going to be a revolution, he’s going to win with a big margin,” she says. “The first time I saw Donald Trump a year and a half ago on Fox News, I said that man is a genius, it doesn’t matter what he says or the stupid things he does, he’s so strong, he’ll be president.”

Others in the crowd are a little testier. One man, festooned with Vietnam veterans patches, yells expletives at the TV every time it shows a photo of Clinton. “That bitch right there is a Bengazhi murderer!” he yells. “That piece of [expletive] woman is a whore!”

Cheers at Mike's Place Jerusalem as preliminary results show @realDonaldTrump in lead #ElectionNight @TimesofIsrael pic.twitter.com/rzAWYsB1rz

— Melanie Lidman (@melanielidman) November 8, 2016

“I’m so obsessed with these elections and I can’t breathe,” says Eitan Rosenfeld, who works for an Israel advocacy organization on college campuses in the US and just moved to Israel. “I voted for Gary Johnson because I think people deserve another party. The two-party system is broken. These two people are going to drive the country apart,” he says.

Though Rosenfeld noted that there were a few Clinton supporters as well, even though the Mike’s Place event was billed as an informal event for Republicans Abroad Israel.

“It’s nice to be in the same bar, that people are respecting each other. We are taking part in something so important. Democracy is so important,” he says.