US election is a slow-motion car crash
It was late at night on a dark and deserted Route 72. We were driving from Memphis, Tennessee, to Huntsville, north Alabama, when there was the whoop of a siren and a state trooper pulled out behind us, lights flashing.
I expected a speeding fine. What I didn’t expect was to be put in the back of the squad car while Chief Martin called in a federal officer and they spent an hour going through the car and all our luggage on the side of the road.
After they’d finished (if anything, it seemed to be the absence of a gun in our luggage that perplexed them most in that part of the Southern States) we shared conciliatory cigarettes. They explained that they’d run my passport through Interpol and discovered I’d previously visited Fiji, Turkey, and Cuba. ‘‘They’re all hotspots for bombs and terrorists. Y’know, New York got a big black eye in 9/11 – we’ve got to be careful.’’
This week, in the final hours before the presidential election, it seems American insularity and fear of the outside world is plumbing new lows. The election promises to be a dark night for the US and for the world – regardless of who wins.
On a plaque beneath the Statue of Liberty are inscribed the words: ‘‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’’ But Liberty has now turned her back to the world, and is looking inwards.
Donald Trump with his wall along the Mexican border and endorsement of the use of nuclear weapons; both Trump and Hillary Clinton denying all hope to the poor and huddled masses of the Pacific region by rejecting the Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement.
This week, the US is on a collision path with the world. This is more than a routine police stop. These are the split seconds before a catastrophic car crash. Time moves so slowly, almost at a halt. Trump and Clinton spiral heavily through the motions.
And in these moments, there is a clarity of foresight. This is not good. This is going to be ugly. This is happening. And there’s nothing anybody can do to stop it.
Whoever wins faces investigation: Trump for his university scandal or sexual harassment; Clinton for her classified State Department emails or the Clinton Foundation.
Worse, whoever wins inherits a bitterly divided nation. They will have no mandate for change, neither in Congress nor in the disunited states of America.
Barack Obama entered the White House with the promise of hope and a vision for change.
Trump or Clinton enter through the back door, exhausted, head down and defeated – even in victory.