Election Day in the United States is November 5 but already as many as 21 million Americans have cast their votes for the person they want to lead them for the next four-year term.
In many ways, the US presidential election will be historic and unprecedented. On January 6, 2025, if there is a peaceful transfer of power, the world will either welcome America’s first female president or its first criminally convicted felon at the helm in the White House.
It is a most fascinating and enthralling possibility that the world’s most powerful economy, the “leader of the free world” and defender of democracy, could be in a state in which it is viewed as teetering on the brink of totalitarianism with the election of Donald Trump.
The wealthy former television reality star and constant showman has managed to dodge the most serious consequences of his illegalities, his highly unethical, and immoral behaviour.
Ironically, many of his minions and associates including lawyers, former White House staff, and other followers have been held accountable.
From his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, who is facing state criminal charges, to his attorney Rudolph Giuliani who has been disbarred in several states over his election lies that Trump won the 2020 election, are paying the price.
The former New York City mayor is also expected to lose nearly everything he owns to satisfy a successful lawsuit brought by two black election workers.
Just this week a judge ordered Giuliani to hand over whatever he owns including his New York City apartment, more than two dozen luxury watches and a 1980 Mercedes once owned by movie star Lauren Bacall to help satisfy the US$148 million defamation judgment against him brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea Shaye Moss.
All the while, Trump’s millions, his messiah-like following, and his threats of violence and imprisonment of those he disagrees with, have served to insulate him so far.
The protective shield is expected to fall apart, though, if he loses the November 5 election, and it is for that reason that the fear factor across the United States has risen.
Americans and others around the world are expectedly terrified there could be a repeat of January 6, 2021, when Trump set his followers on the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
With just a week to go, there is another option on the table for the American electorate. For the second time, the world’s superpower is on the cusp of electing its first female leader.
It was an achievement that Hillary Clinton failed to realise despite receiving millions more votes than Trump in 2016.
Will Americans finally shake off their misogynistic objections to a female president? More important, however, will they look past the fact that Kamala Harris is not only a woman but a woman of colour, who is also the daughter of immigrants?
The momentum, the vibe, the enthusiasm, the financial support that Harris has generated in just two months following the withdrawal of Joe Biden as the presidential candidate has been nothing short of phenomenal.
The 60-year-old lawyer, serving Vice President and former Senator of California, holds a degree in political science and economics from Howard University, studied Law at the University of California, and holds a Juris Doctor or Doctor of Law.
Though more than eminently qualified for the job, in politics, we know that victory depends on how you are perceived by the electorate and whether you have the gravitas, and salesmanship to get them to buy what you are selling.
On the other hand, Trump is a master salesman and marketer who has demonstrated over the last decade that he is prepared to use those skills for his personal gain and seldom for the good of others.
As the Financial Times outlined in a recent article: “The pro-Trump camp includes Israel, Russia, India, Hungary, Argentina and Saudi Arabia.
“In the pro-Harris camp you can find Ukraine, most of the EU, Britain, Japan, Canada, Brazil, South Africa and many others. . . . The prospect that a Trump-led US would cut off aid to Ukraine would hand Vladimir Putin the victory he has so far been denied on the battlefield.”
The stakes are so high and the closeness of this race between Trump and Harris is chilling. With Trump not prepared to accept anything but a win for him, the world is on edge no matter the outcome.
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