海角大神

Sean Spicer, Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller 鈥� all are players in the palace intrigue known as the Trump White House. And they鈥檙e all household names ... in China.

Chinese TV viewers can鈥檛 get enough of the 鈥淭rump Show,鈥� and coverage of America in general, says Ching-Yi Chang, White House correspondent for Shanghai Media Group.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e interested in everything 鈥� your entertainment, your politics, how your system functions,鈥� Mr. Chang says. Chinese people 鈥渧ery much enjoy 鈥楬ouse of Cards,鈥� 鈥� he adds, by way of explanation.

But听if any parallels between the Netflix drama and real life are a bit overdrawn 鈥� even in a week of stark revelations in the Trump-Russia saga 鈥� there鈥檚 no doubt that the Trump presidency has gripped the imagination of a global audience.

And as with their American counterparts, foreign correspondents who cover the White House call it the story of a lifetime 鈥� profound in its implications for their home countries, and a fascinating window into the experiment called American democracy.

In the footsteps of de Tocqueville

The story isn鈥檛 just about a flamboyant businessman who improbably winds up in the White House, and sends a legion of investigative reporters into high gear, however.听It鈥檚 also about the small towns and cultural diversity of a vast nation.

Like France鈥檚 Alexis de Tocqueville and听Ilf and Petrov of the old Soviet Union, international observers have long found America an endlessly fascinating subject for study and exploration. When Akiyoshi Mitsuzawa, a reporter for the Japanese newspaper Seikyo Shimbun, came to the US recently on a two-week reporting trip, he spent only a day in Washington and more time in the middle of the country.

Probe more deeply, and members of the foreign press corps in Washington marvel at Americans鈥� abiding sense of patriotism as they salute the flag, sing the national anthem at ballgames, and thank military veterans for their service.

Branka Slavica, US correspondent for Croatian TV, says her countrymen are impressed that, after 241 years, America 鈥渟till celebrates its birthday in such a beautiful way.鈥� She went to the National Mall on July 4 to interview Americans who had come from all over the country to watch the parade and the fireworks.

鈥淧eople were really, honestly excited about the Fourth of July,鈥� says Ms. Slavica, who has been based in the US for 12 years. 鈥淭hey are every year. It doesn鈥檛 matter who is the president.鈥�

Among the foreign correspondents based in Washington, many escape the capital when they can 鈥� out of their own curiosity and their bosses鈥� desire for coverage that captures the richness of America.

鈥淲e try to look at the world and America from a bit more of a helicopter perspective鈥� than the beat reporters in Washington, says Jorgen Ullerup, US correspondent for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. 鈥淲e go to a lot of places where people are crazy about Trump.鈥�

Mr. Ullerup and his wife just spent a week in Kentucky looking into the opioid epidemic. Ullerup has also spent time with a fundamentalist snake handler in Tennessee, and visited the Nevada ranch of the rebellious Cliven Bundy (who, Ullerup discovered, has Danish ancestry).

'It always comes back to Trump'

But Trump is like a magnet, says Ullerup. 鈥淚 travel the country to do other stories, but somehow it always comes back to Trump.鈥�

鈥淭oday I did a correspondent鈥檚 letter about staying at the Trump hotel in Las Vegas,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚鈥檝e done a whole lot of Russia stories. Yesterday I wrote about the GOP and health care... The other day I wrote about Spicer.鈥�

Not that he much minds. President Obama had gotten kind of boring. When Ullerup first arrived seven years ago 鈥� long before a President Trump was on anyone鈥檚 radar 鈥� he was struck by how divided America was. In Europe, Mr. Obama was seen as a superstar, but here, Ullerup found 鈥渆verybody was blocking him.鈥�

鈥淚n Europe, people are a little bit surprised that there鈥檚 so much negativity about Obama, because it looked like he had gotten America out of the economic crisis much faster than Europe,鈥� Ullerup says.

鈥淲hat we didn鈥檛 focus on was that people had felt forgotten, that their wages didn鈥檛 rise,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople were talking about the unemployment rate going down, but paying less attention to the people who were leaving the labor market.鈥�

Today, he says, America seems more divided than ever. Trump鈥檚 campaign talk of NATO as 鈥渙bsolete鈥� only added to Danish (and European) anxiety about US dedication to the alliance. Ullerup speaks of a recent trip to Virginia Beach for Warrior Week, in which 35 Danish veterans from the Afghan and Iraq wars participated.

鈥淲hen they came into a restaurant, people would clap or say, 鈥楾hank you for your service,鈥� 鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat never happens in Denmark.鈥�

Drama of White House press briefings

Ullerup rarely makes it to the White House briefing room. But for other foreign correspondents, being on scene is where it鈥檚 at.

鈥淚n the first few months, it was a bit chaotic,鈥� especially compared with the orderly and opaque Obama White House, says Philip Crowther, White House correspondent for France 24 TV since 2011.

Mr. Crowther says he鈥檒l never forget the first full day of Trump鈥檚 presidency, when Mr. Spicer came out and 鈥渓iterally shouted at us鈥� about the crowd size at the inauguration.

鈥淭he podium was way too big for him,鈥� Crowther says. 鈥淭he next day, I saw them wheeling it out of the West Wing, and replacing it with one that would suit him better.鈥�

During the campaign, foreign reporters were shut out of Trump campaign events, and they feared their White House press passes would be deactivated after Trump took office. That didn鈥檛 happen.

Crowther just finished a year as president of the White House Foreign Press Group, a group of about two dozen foreign correspondents from all over the world committed to maintaining a daily presence in the White House.

鈥淵ou basically have to remind the White House that you鈥檙e there,鈥� says Crowther, a native of Luxembourg with British and German citizenship.

Today, foreign reporters get called on at briefings, as they did under Obama. Though with only one seat in the briefing room reserved for foreign press, most are left standing cheek-by-jowl in the cramped space. But they鈥檒l take what they can get.

鈥楢 nation of survivors鈥�

German radio correspondent Sabrina Fritz is packing up to leave after six years in Washington. And like her foreign colleagues, she is struck by the evolution she has witnessed.

When she first arrived in the US, Ms. Fritz says, the country seemed 鈥渧ery open to everything鈥� 鈥� gay marriage, people of other religions, fighting climate change, more vegetables at schools.

鈥淚 liked this spirit 鈥� all those very, let鈥檚 say, European values,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou have to pay here for your plastic bags, and I thought, wow, a lot of things are changing.鈥�

Over time, Fritz saw that nothing is as simple as it seems. She has traveled the country, talking to workers involved in fracking in North Dakota and cowboys in Wyoming. Like many reporters, she read 鈥淗illbilly Elegy,鈥� the J.D. Vance memoir that offers a window into the lives of the white underclass.

Fritz also made multiple trips to Detroit, and saw a once-great city begin to revive. For her, Detroit鈥檚 nascent comeback reflects a glass-half-full attitude that is quintessentially American. 鈥淵ou are a nation of survivors,鈥� she says.

Still, she worries about the future of US-European trade, and about Trump鈥檚 decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a danger that the US will fall behind, and become more isolated.鈥�

Still a beacon of democracy?

Is America still a beacon of democracy, as it likes to see itself? TV reporter Chang smiles and quotes 鈥淗ouse of Cards鈥� character Frank Underwood: 鈥淒emocracy is so overrated.鈥�

Chang grew up in Taiwan, 鈥渁 very vibrant democracy,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut there are always drawbacks to democracy.鈥�

Sometimes 鈥渢he people鈥� make the wrong decision, he says, pointing to UK citizens鈥� decision to leave the European Union. In Washington, expansion of the metro system has been chugging along slowly for years. In China, a project like that would be finished in six months, he says.

Others point to the transparency of the American system as admirable. Slavica of Croatia marvels at the televised open hearing last month of James Comey, the fired FBI director.

鈥淚 also love confirmation hearings,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hoever the president chooses has to go through a public hearing. That鈥檚 a nice test.鈥�

Chang, too, has plenty of positive things to say about the country he has called home for 11 years. He came to the US for graduate school at New York University, and from there, landed an internship at NBC Nightly News.

Chang has been a reporter in the US ever since, and a TV correspondent at the White House since 2010. 鈥淚 still believe in the American dream,鈥� he says.