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Fearing a Trump presidency, they traveled from Europe to help Clinton's campaign

Thirty politically passionate millennials from the Netherlands who came to Philadelphia to help get out the vote for Hillary Clinton spent Saturday knocking on doors with like-minded canvassers.

A group of young adults from the Netherlands have come here to lend a hand to Hillary Clinton campaign volunteers because they are so afraid of what a Trump presidency would mean for the future of their country and the European Union. The group of about 30 people from the Netherlands volunteered at a Clinton field office at St. Matthews AME Church in Philadelphia, PA on November 5, 2016.  DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
A group of young adults from the Netherlands have come here to lend a hand to Hillary Clinton campaign volunteers because they are so afraid of what a Trump presidency would mean for the future of their country and the European Union. The group of about 30 people from the Netherlands volunteered at a Clinton field office at St. Matthews AME Church in Philadelphia, PA on November 5, 2016. DAVID MAIALETTI / Staff PhotographerRead more

Thirty politically passionate millennials from the Netherlands who came to Philadelphia to help get out the vote for Hillary Clinton spent Saturday knocking on doors with like-minded canvassers.

Peter Black from Groningen said all the Dutch visitors are members of the Route 66 Association, a "liberal, progressive, Democratic" group of 25- to 33-year-old professionals from the Netherlands' D66 Party.

"We came partly out of curiosity about this election," Black said.

And they came partly out of fear of a Donald Trump victory, said Talitha Stam of Rotterdam. "If Hillary Clinton doesn't win, we are scared of the other option. He is dangerous, not just for America, but for our country and other countries as well."

"He wants to pull out of NATO," said Ilana Rooderkerk from Amsterdam. "He has the final vote on going to war and on using nuclear weapons. We don't want him to have the button to push."

Rooderkerk said she would also like to help elect America's first female president.

The visitors focused their election efforts Saturday on the blocks around St. Matthew AME Church on 57th and Race Streets in West Philadelphia.

Christopher Parren, also from Amsterdam, said that as the Route 66 group followed Trump's ascendancy to the Republican nomination, "we saw a populist with no political experience running for president of the biggest Western democracy. And that is scary."

Parren said that when the group was following the Republican primaries from their Netherlands homes, "it was hard to imagine how this happened. We wanted to see for ourselves."

He and Rooderkerk said that while knocking on doors of registered Democrats, they encountered several residents who believed the Republican primaries were rigged "because how else could Trump have become the candidate."

After a long day of election work, the Dutch politicos became ordinary young people again, talking and laughing in a corner park near the church, awaiting rides to Katy Perry's "Get Out the Vote" free concert at the Mann Center, featuring an appearance by Clinton herself.

"I don't care about Katy Perry," Parren said. "I just want to see Hillary and hear what she has to say."

"You don't care about Katy Perry?" Stam asked. "She's really good!"

They will end their weeklong visit spending Sunday in Washington and election night in New York City. Then they head home to help their D66 Party candidates campaign for the Netherlands parliamentary elections in March.

geringd@phillynews.com

267-443-3540

@DanGeringer