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Austrian Envoy Lauds Concern from US Presidential Candidates

Natalie Liu

   WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic Party
   challenger Joe Biden clearly had much on their minds just hours before
   polls opened in Tuesday's presidential election. Yet both found time to
   tweet their condolences to the Austrian people for a terror attack that
   took place more than 7,000 kilometers away in Vienna.

     After tonight's horrific terrorist attack in Vienna, Austria, Jill
     and I are keeping the victims and their families in our prayers. We
     must all stand united against hate and violence.
     -- Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) [1]November 3, 2020

     Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act
     of terrorism in Europe. These evil attacks against innocent people
     must stop. The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe
     in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic
     terrorists.
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [2]November 3, 2020

   The messages were noticed and very much appreciated in Austria, Martin
   Weiss, Vienna's ambassador in the United States, told VOA in a phone
   interview.

   "Because for both of them, this was the last day of their campaigning,
   in a really important campaign for both of them, and both of them took
   time to send those messages," he said.

   "It's not a matter of course that they would do that. That was really
   something actually quite touching."

   Weiss, who took up his duties as head of mission at the Austrian
   embassy in Washington a year ago, found himself juggling multiple
   chores on November 3, monitoring developments in Vienna, writing
   thank-you notes to Americans who had expressed support for Austria, and
   keeping a close eye on the voting in various states.

     Austria is in mourning over the innocent lives lost in yesterday's
     terror attack. Wreaths have been laid and the flags in front of our
     Embassy are flying at halfmast. We are shaken yet undeterred. Our
     model of life is what stand for. We will not budge. Not even an
     inch. [3]pic.twitter.com/RMOFbqUe50
     -- Martin Weiss (@martinoweiss) [4]November 3, 2020

   "After all, this is Election Day, this is the day the whole country had
   been waiting for, for a long time."

   The ambassador and his team weren't the only Austrians taking an
   interest in which way the Americans were voting. "We have 15 to 20
   journalists from Austria here to cover the election," Weiss said. Some,
   he said, arrived earlier, while others came just for election week.

   "They have fanned out to various battleground states, so the Austrian
   public gets a lot of reporting from Florida, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and
   so on. There's great interest at home."

   The Vienna attack, in which an extremist associated with the Islamic
   State group killed four people and wounded almost two dozen, has
   understandably taken some attention from the U.S. election in Austria's
   media.

   "I heard some journalists say that 'well, you know, we would have had
   eight pages in the paper about the U.S. election, now they cut it down
   to four.' So that happened to all of them," Weiss said. "They all got
   less time and less space in their media because of this terror attack,
   which is something that touched Austria deeply."

References

   1. https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1323457369670512641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   2. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1323481349030879232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://t.co/RMOFbqUe50
   4. https://twitter.com/martinoweiss/status/1323663699702329345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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