Heading into the final weeks of the presidential campaign, the U.S. is arguably more divided on issues like race and public health, and even the basic norms of democracy, than it has been for decades.
America is gripped by the coronavirus epidemic that’s slammed the economy and killed more than 200,000, the Black Lives Matter protests in major cities against police brutality and the rising threat of White supremacists.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the vote ahead of Nov. 3, claiming without evidence that casting ballots by mail instead of in person is more susceptible to fraud and calling it a Democratic party “scam.”
Now he’s refusing to commit to leaving office peacefully if he loses to Joe Biden.
Trailing Biden in most opinion polls, there are signs Trump’s campaign is not going as planned. Tight on cash, it canceled $4.5 million in ad buys in key battleground states this week, while Biden is expanding his advertising.
The election is a key reason Trump’s in a hurry to have the Republican-controlled Senate appoint a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
He said yesterday the court needs all nine members to break any tie in case of a dispute, as it did in 2000 with a 5-4 ruling on a vote recount that handed victory to George W. Bush over Al Gore.
Investors are pricing in expectations of higher volatility around the election. Democracy in America could be severely tested.
— Karl Maier
