By Ella Stewart, RNZ News reporter
American expats are feeling grateful to be living in Aotearoa after watching the chaos and violence unfold at the Capitol building in Washington.
Madeline Nash, her husband, and her two children looked at moving to New Zealand after the 2016 presidential election.
Her eldest child was just about to start school and during the hour-long school tours they went on, 20 minutes were spent explaining the school’s shooter protocol.
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They finally made the big move to Auckland from Austin, Texas, in 2018.
Although she is not surprised, she said what was happening in Washington, DC, was far worse than they had ever imagined.
“To actually see that people have taken it so far that they are willing basically, I would say to hop over the line to sedition and treason, they’re really just trying to tear down the country.”
Nash said partisan politics had become extremely polarising in the US but living in New Zealand was like being in an alternate reality.
“I’m glad that we have this ability to be here and our children are a bit sheltered from what’s going on, but as an adult it is very hard to be straddling both worlds right now.”
This post was originally published on Radio Free.