The support of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik for the Republican candidate in the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump, had a significant impact in America, where many Serbs from Republika Srpska reside, said Ranko Ristić, a leader of the MAGA Serbs movement.
This Chicago businessman stated that Trump’s team was thrilled by Dodik’s gesture, noting that Dodik was the only statesman, alongside Hungary’s Viktor Orban, to openly support Trump during the campaign and the first to congratulate him on his victory.
Ristić, who spent election night in West Palm Beach, Florida, with the new American president and his closest associates, showed people from Trump’s campaign the coverage of the U.S. elections in Serbian media, which they subsequently shared on social networks.
“I showed them Serbian media reports that covered the election around the clock. They could hardly believe that a distant country showed such interest in American elections and offered such substantial support for Trump. They were especially amazed to see celebrations in Banja Luka and that President Dodik, who is under U.S. sanctions, was holding an American flag and wearing a MAGA cap,” Ristić told Serbian Times.
Ristić added that Dodik’s call encouraged many of “our people” to vote, a significant achievement, as was the celebration in Republika Srpska—a country whose people have suffered due to the policies of some past American administrations—waving American flags and illuminating the Banja Luka Palace of the Republic in American colors.
He believes that what happened in Florida, as well as the preceding months of the campaign, ensures that Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serb people on both sides of the ocean will have the chance to improve relations with the U.S. over the next four years and to have their voices better heard in Washington.
“For the first time, we acted as a team within the Serbian community, and as the first organized delegation, MAGA Serbs accomplished a great feat. Now everyone, from President Trump onward, people from his team, his family, knows well how much Serbs contributed to his victory, both financially and through our votes in key swing states, as well as through media efforts. We had the opportunity to talk to Trump and personally convey our support, and I am confident he will appreciate it. The opportunity is there, and it should be seized,” emphasized Ristić.
He stressed that it’s essential to continue these efforts.
“Serbs have made the mistake in past decades of not engaging in American political life. Now we have corrected that mistake, but further work is needed. As American citizens of Serbian descent, we must find ways to align Serbian interests with American ones and achieve a fair relationship, which we didn’t have before. The good news is that the current global context is favorable. Serbs have historically been victims of globalism, but over the next four years, we will have a White House that does not support globalism. These elections showed that the majority of the Serbian and American people support the same principles, which is crucial,” Ristić said.
He highlighted that the Serbian diaspora in the U.S. has taken a first, major step toward bridging Serbia and America.
“But nothing happens overnight or automatically, especially when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. I hope our politicians in Serbia and Republika Srpska, Presidents Vučić and Dodik, will know what to do moving forward, and that they will be persistent and make use of the current balance of power,” said Ristić.
He clarified that he does not believe this situation should be exploited to harm other peoples in the Balkans, but rather to work toward improving conditions for everyone and reducing tensions.
“As someone from Republika Srpska, I believe stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina benefits everyone. And the fact that the U.S. will no longer act as the world’s policeman will allow other nations, including the Serbian people, to take control of their destinies,” observed the Serbian businessman from Chicago and MAGA Serbs member.
Speaking about sanctions on Dodik, Ristić said that politics is the art of the possible, and he hopes that the American flag flying in Banja Luka, after years of tensions with the U.S. ambassador in Bosnia, might represent a turning point or at least an opportunity.
“However, this will be a long and arduous process. The State Department is a cumbersome apparatus that hasn’t changed much since the 1990s, when Serbs were labeled as the bad guys. The Serbian people in Republika Srpska have suffered significantly due to previous American policies; there is distrust, but the conditions are now in place to move things in a positive direction, and I am confident this will happen,” Ristić stated.
Ristić also shared that he once recounted to Trump his personal experiences, explaining how Serbs in Bosnia fought against 3,000 mujahideen, while CNN and other American media portrayed Serbs as the villains.
“And how two mujahideen, who were in the El Mujahideen camp near Zavidovići on my late grandfather’s property—Al Mihdhar and Al Hazmi—just a few years later hijacked American Airlines Flight 77, crashing it into the Pentagon on September 11,” Ristić concluded.
Source: RTRS
