New Lockdown Day 4, Monday
The interminable American election campaign is drawing to a not-end. After all, who actually believes that the decision will be made on the night itself? I still remember the infamous “hanging chads” fiasco in Florida in 2000 where the result of the election eventually depended on the decision of the Supreme Court. To an outsider, the eventual judgement seemed (!) politically biased and was, surely, essentially undemocratic - but the Democratic candidate accepted the court’s decision and gave the presidency to a Republican. It is just about possible to imagine that ‘acceptance’ of a contrary judgement by Bush if the tables had been reversed; it is totally impossible to imagine it happening with the Orange Outrage that presently occupies the White House.
The most compelling forecast for the 3rd of November as the in-person votes are being counted is for the O.O. to claim victory before the postal votes have been counted and then try and litigate his way back to power and he motivates the wilder factions in his base to take direct action.
The fact that staid journalistic media are talking seriously about the fragility of democracy in the United States and the possibility of somehing approaching Civil War, should be astonishing, but is anything but.
I sincerely hope that we will look back on this particular period of a Trump Presidency as a fascinating aberration in the functioning of the body politic, and the fears of democrats as wildly overstated, but today, the day before the election, I see no real cause for complacency. Although Trump is almost certain to lose the popular vote (again), given the vagaries of the Electoral College there is always a way to power for him based on a small number of swing states and small numbers of voters. The shockingly blatant attempts by various Republicans to supress voting may be enough to tip the balance towards the incumbent, and because the balance in the Supreme Court has already been tipped, he is in a good position to use Conservative Trump-appointed judges to retain his hold on power.
In reality, I find it incredible that anyone could possibly vote for a person so lacking in basic humanity. If you are only concerned about power, then that would explain the vile enablers in the Senate, but they will be forever tainted by their ‘association’ with Trump, unless, of course, you are a member of the ‘base’. But even with that sludge of humanity, it is white and ageing and will eventually dissipate. Unless the Republican Party re-invents itself then it will be subject to the oblivion of entropy.
Enough speculation: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof, and that can wait another day or so, or so, or so!
Um, if I have entered myself into a self-denying ordinance not to mention the USA Presidential Election, what else is there to talk about? He said during a time of Covid-19; financial breakdown; immanent Brexit; social unrest; closed culture; lockdown, and sunshine.
Perhaps one thing that I can mention (again) is a recent book purchase called, “What Great Paintings Say” – fairly fatuous title, but an excellent book, and at present cheap on Amazon, I paid 15 euros for a hardback version! This YouTube clip gives you some idea of the format and the contents:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyAgOuQhUNM
Well worth buying.
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