Two Rich Old Men Want to Enter Their Dotage Ruling the United States of America

PEOPLE laughed when the USA elected a former actor as President but Ronald Reagan had plenty of admirers by the time that his terms were completed.

More people expressed fear and worry when a firebrand businessman who on six occasions had businesses file for bankruptcy decided that he wanted to be President and his homespun, make America great again philosophy saw him win.

Like many in America, he comes from an immigrant background (German and Scottish) but that didn’t stop him from berating illegal immigrants from central and south America and interestingly a significant Latino vote helped get him elected as many thought ‘we are here and do not need any more arrivals!’

In some ways, he is a bit like Prince Philip in as much as he doesn’t always seem to consider the effect of what he says (or tweets) but unlike the Duke of Edinburgh who can look a bit confused and get away with it, Trump is quite happy to bully his way through.

He has been in power for three and half years and looking back, he appears not to have been a complete disaster or even buffoon although sometimes he really does make a fool of himself.

In that time however, the American economy started a recovery, he seemed to be prepared to allow some form of rapport with Iran (although that did change) and his relationship with North Korea went from bad to worse and then did a complete turnaround.

2020 should have been the year of the campaign trail with him and opponents stomping around the country, making promises they couldn’t keep and bad mouthing each other but Covid-19 and now BLM (Black Lives Matter) has changed the entire political scene.

Unemployment has shot through the roof, the number of deaths has topped 100,000 and he doesn’t appear to have a sensible plan to handle it, leaving State Governors to implement their own policies.

The election is due on November 3 and whilst the Democratic candidate Jo Biden has suggested that Trump will try to postpone the election, the American Constitution doesn’t allow it.

In January 2021 there has to be a new President and if individual states don’t hold elections, then it is perfectly possible for either the votes cast in those states that do to decide who will win or the Electoral College which normally votes in accordance with the public will present its votes to the House of Representatives and if no clear majority is declared, then that House can make the decision.

The only problem is that if no elections take place then all members of the House of Representatives will have to step down at the end of January, so America could grind to a halt.

The other way to ensure a clear result is to expand the number of people allowed to submit postal votes, a system that President Trump strongly opposes but if things go to a straight vote, the majority of opinion polls and even some Republicans believe that Biden will win.