AMERICA BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

Americans in both parties look exhausted. Never, since the Civil War, has the country be as divided. The Democrats fight an uphill battle. Trump looks and sounds often demented but his strength lies in the connection he forged with mostly rural, often southern parts of the country, that are often evangelical and conservative. Kamala Harris appears too close to San Francisco and to the more sophisticated, liberal "elites", while in reality she is just a liberal, sophisticated persona, deferential to the changes that occur in society, demography, culture and the new economy.

It is certainly paradoxical that Donald Trump, New Yorker, wealthy parvenu, became the crusader for the often less-affluent, less-educated, predominantly white male voters. This doesn't stop some of the wealthiest, often found among the High Tech wizards, to forego his vulgarity and to lend him generous financial support. Elon Musk acts as his Goebbels. The Hitler precedent comes often up but the Fuhrer in the early 1930s looked rather smart....  The international cabal (an arc of contradictory countries which covers such unlikely countries from North Korea, Russia to Israel...) favors the like-minded (?) MAGA candidate.

Kamala Harris needs to clearly distance herself, as much as courtesy allows, from President Biden, who showed again how dangerous he can be when allowed "free speech". His comments about the Trump followers are erasing the gaffes of the comedian who made the unfortunate utterance regarding Puerto Rico. Biden became a godsend for the GOP. Kamala must think "with friends like these....".

The polls are inconclusive, the mood is somber. If Trump wins, America will enter into a repetitive pattern of deconstruction and revenge. If Kamala Harris becomes president, the MAGA Sturmtruppen will repeat and expand on their January 6 Capitol riot and sabotage the rule of law. Internationally, Trump will not be shy to embrace Orban rather than Macron or to find a deal with Putin on the back of Zelensky. While the remnants of the former world order are under fire by the expanding BRICS, the EU and NATO might well arrive at the conclusion Wir schaffen das NICHT.

A Harris presidency would be applauded by most in the EU and be approached with caution worldwide. She is a persona with class, a woman with a contemporary mindset, a Mensch...In so many words the choice is easy, between a healer and a destroyer.