THE TRUMP DUMPSTER

The first presidential debate should be the last...not to be repeated !

Trump was again the creature out of the swamp. Biden could hardly maintain a semblance of dignity in this imposed descent into the mud. The moderator tried to  "manage", but Trump chose to be what he is and how his "base" loves to see him, breaking all the rules of civility. He belongs after all to the vulgar world of lucha libre.

This deplorable spectacle probably turned more heads than it changed minds. Republicans and Democrats got what they bargained for, demolition man versus a more existential personality. The mood in America is such, the morale is so low, that fatigue might as well dislodge reason. If there is still room left for the rational, the Democrats should win. Unfortunately, the atmosphere has become so polluted that voters might just close the windows and stay home. If Trump were to win a second term, one might as well kiss the USA goodbye.

This populist American gutter wave is a wildfire which can be seen in other parts of the world. Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court fits perfectly in Poland or Hungary. The ayatollahs have their Christian counterparts. The EU and others had better get ready for a Plan B. Even if the outcome were to favor the Democrats, America is stabbed in the back for years to come. The Republicans bargained with the devil and were able to take the country hostage to a wave of younger Christian conservatives. The country is split today, it could be broken tomorrow. Europeans had better avoid being too close to a corpse. Let's imagine how other friendly and less-friendly countries watched yesterday's Barnum show. Disbelief and horror fight over the outcome. Biden was able to manage his anger but the claws of the beast continued to slaughter any remnant of civility.

Europeans must take stock of what is left of the American dream. They have to adjust to two scenarios. If Trump wins they will enter the years of a painful separation and be left to manage their Atlantic and Eastern "marches" alone. If Biden wins, the terms for reconstruction of the Zeitgeist of the past should be generous, since a Democratic president would also have to deal with the enemy within. Since Chancellor Merkel will be gone it will befall on President Macron to take up the European leadership. This task will be all the more difficult since contradictory pressures-- emanating from Putin and the Vysegrad block--will be set loose. Fukuyama's End of History might need a second burial.

Lately, the mood and style of the Trump regime looks more and more eager to copy the Albert Speer scenario. Tragically here again the undertakers are taking over from the creators. The culture war is being waged against all that became the core of Western civilization: freedom of choice. The American president is often compared to a clown.  Indeed, but as in Stephen King's novels, this particular clown is heinous.