Heiner Lauterbach believes in the resilience of American democracy despite Trump

Actor Heiner Lauterbach (73) believes in the self-healing powers of American democracy. “The USA has already been through many crises, just think of the American Civil War in the 19th century, the persecution of communists during the McCarthy era in the 1950s or the Vietnam War,” Lauterbach told the German Press Agency in Cologne. “Donald Trump only has two years left, and the Americans will survive them.”

In February and March, the actor and voice actor will be touring Germany with a literary-musical program on the subject of the USA. Under the title "Like a Hobo" he deals with the country's literary DNA and recites its great narrators, including Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner and Truman Capote. He will be accompanied musically by the Cologne Blues Club.

Hollywood films got him into acting

“I have always had a great affinity for America - my childhood and youth were shaped by American music, American films and books,” said Lauterbach. «I don't think I would have gotten into acting at all without the Hollywood films of the time with stars like John Wayne or Richard Widmark. Everyone looked to America back then. And we want to convey something of that in our program.”

It's not about a glossy image of the USA, on the contrary: "The great American writers have always described the country with all its fractures and problems mercilessly and held a mirror up to it. And a lot of it - poverty, racism, division - is still very relevant today."

US President Trump is of course a bizarre and destructive figure, but Germans have no reason to look down on America. “I’m more worried about Germany than America at the moment,” he said. «America remains an endlessly fascinating and complex country. And everything that happens there will sooner or later be felt here in Germany.”