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"Tagesthemen" presenter Zamperoni: Fascinated by the USA even as a child
Photo:
Christian Spielmann / NDR
To person
Ingo Zamperoni
, born in Wiesbaden in 1974, is a German-Italian TV journalist.
After his traineeship at NDR, he first worked as a reporter, then from 2007 moderated the ARD "Nachtmagazin", later the "Tagesthemen".
Between 2014 and 2016 he was the USA correspondent for ARD, since his return he has been moderating the "Tagesthemen" again, alternating weekly with Caren Miosga.
Zamperoni is married to the American Jiffer Bourguignon.
His documentary "Trump, my American family and me" is available in the ARD media library.
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Zamperoni, in your documentary "Trump, My American Family and I" you break down the big things into the small, personal - your own family.
Why?
Zamperoni:
The idea was to explore.
I wanted to know: How is this society doing, how are the people, how is this country doing after four years with Trump?
And how does it affect those who are closest to me in this country that fascinated me even as a child?
SPIEGEL:
You were a US correspondent in Washington for three years and you are married to an American.
Zamperoni:
And through this family there is a small division.
It reflects what is happening across the country on a large scale.
Two implacable and unconvincing blocks, if you will.
My wife is an ardent Democrat, but my father-in-law is a staunch Trump voter.
My mother-in-law is also a Democrat, at least against Trump, her second husband is black.
How did he observe the "Black Lives Matter" protests against police violence, which turned into rioting in the summer?
How has racism developed under Trump if he wants to see "good people" in appropriate groups?
And then we haven't talked about the forest fires on the west coast.
My sister-in-law lives in San Francisco and has constant smoke in her eyes.
SPIEGEL:
It's your own family.
Can you be neutral as a journalist?
Zamperoni:
I didn't go there to convert my father-in-law.
I wanted to be an observer.
It is not my president who is being elected.
My father-in-law is a nice guy, I like him very much.
You can have fun with him, he's kind.
Why does someone like that vote for Trump?
SPIEGEL:
Why?
Zamperoni:
My step-father-in-law gave me three reasons why people vote for Trump.
The first group is rich, great entrepreneurs.
Trump helps them to keep money through tax cuts or by abolishing environmental regulations and other deregulations.
The second group is just so conservative that the Republicans could put up a sack of potatoes, so to speak - and they would cross it behind it.
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SPIEGEL:
And the third group?
Zamperoni:
They are racists or people who fear the white majority will dwindle.
Then there is someone in the White House who may not be overtly racist - but does not denounce certain things as he should.
And that's a message.
SPIEGEL:
Is this split a legacy of Obama's two legislative terms?
Zamperoni:
Obama himself says: "Progress zigs and zags", progress oscillates back and forth.
Basically, this already made itself felt with the entry of the Tea Party into the Congress.
If you want to go further, Sarah Palin was the gateway, this populist gateway for the Republicans.
Trump has only very cleverly tapped these recent currents.
One should also not forget that there is also a strong shift to the left among the Democrats.
SPIEGEL:
People who would have preferred the leftist candidate Bernie Sanders?
Zamperoni:
Yes.
And many fear that Biden will not complete the four years.
And then Kamala Harris comes into play, who even more stands for the - from her point of view - extremist left.
SPIEGEL:
For "socialism", as many Americans understand it, Bernie Sanders would have been more likely.
Zamperoni:
I made the film with my colleague Birigt Wärnke, who grew up in the GDR.
The whole time she said: "I know what socialism is! What are they talking about here?"
Things like health insurance or a free university, from a German point of view these are more classic social democratic attitudes.
In the United States, I think they would rather keep the pride of pulling themselves out of the swamp.
Traditionally, people don't expect so much from the state.
SPIEGEL:
Redistributing, the bugbear?
Zamperoni:
Exactly.
"I struggled here for 60 years and looked after my family myself," says my father-in-law, "and now they want to take all that and bring benefits to a people that then even consists of illegal immigrants?"
SPIEGEL:
Have you met leftists who will not vote for Biden?
Zamperoni:
Yes.
They want more, namely to change something fundamentally.
Biden is not enough.
The nephew of a friend of my wife was a first-time voter four years ago and voted for Trump.
Now he has turned away from him, but he cannot vote for Biden either.
Because he thinks it's just as terrible as Trump.
SPIEGEL:
How do the people you spoke to get information?
Facebook, Fox News, daily newspapers?
Is the country fragmented in this respect too?
Zamperoni: Definitely
.
My father-in-law also watches CNN to compensate, but gets his headlines from Fox.
Many nightly political shows on channels like Fox News or CNN are strongly colored by opinion.
What is legitimate is private companies, and commentary is a journalistic form of expression.
SPIEGEL: But
it is sold as news.
Zamperoni:
And that reinforces our own perspectives on both sides.
Then there is the social media.
My father-in-law likes to send me any obscure posts and chain letters: "Look, that's how it is!"
SPIEGEL:
Do you see any parallels to developments in Germany?
Zamperoni:
We have a different system, a different culture.
No outsider here can simply hijack a party just because he has millions in his account, as Trump did.
Maybe we are more sober in Germany, more honest.
We like consistency.
But I would warn against arrogance.
Strong forces are pulling at democracy.
We saw how fast it can go.
SPIEGEL:
Will the situation calm down after the election?
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Zamperoni:
I'm skeptical about that.
These rifts are often insurmountable and so deep even in families that it almost doesn't matter who sits in the White House.
SPIEGEL:
What can you do?
Zamperoni:
You can only try to maintain communication with one another.
My mother-in-law could cry that someone like Trump is running the country.
But one of her best friends who she kayaks with weekly in Wisconsin is a rock solid Trump voter.
Still, they paddle together every week and say, "We just don't talk about it", we just don't talk about it.
I don't know if this is a head-in-the-sand.
But at least you still have encounters.
