Decision

Today American voters will cast a decisive vote. Either the US gets its first female president or they get Donald Trump.

This has not been America’s happiest presidential election campaign – or her most graceful. It takes nearly two years for presidential aspirants to slog through their respective parties’ primaries and then battle it out during the actual contest. The American electoral system can be an exhausting, exasperating exercise.

Close scrutiny of the candidates over the protracted campaign period does not always breed familiarity. In this case of Clinton versus Trump, it has bred contempt. The poll numbers show that the majority of Americans have a derogatory view of both candidates, although it is Trump who is more disdained.

Through the campaign period, the two major party candidates exchanged insults – although Trump proved to be the coarser one. Much has been said about dragging electoral campaigns to gutter level. This campaign brought gutter level even lower.

Nevertheless, a decision will have to be made today even if no one might be happy with the choices.

On the eve of the vote, the most credible polls show Hillary Clinton holding on to a slim three-point lead over Trump. Everyone describes this race to be a tight one, although Clinton does hold a more substantial lead in Electoral College votes. Trump, however, has enjoyed momentum the past week and could actually pull upsets in a number of battleground states.

As far as the betting goes, Clinton is favored to win. However, Trump has proven to be a tough underdog.

The rest of the world is probably as divided as the American voters are in this election. The Russians generally favor Trump who has expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin. The Chinese overwhelmingly favor Hillary Clinton. Most of the other countries are simply fearful of whatever outcome.

Days before the elections, stock prices began tumbling due to anxiety over what this election might produce. It is not only because Trump or Clinton might win. It is primarily anxiety about a polarized American public in the aftermath of the election.

Some weeks before, Trump threatened he would not readily concede the elections should he lose. He made unfounded claims the polls will be rigged by Clinton supporters. Those remarks scandalized many, including those in the Republican Party. Trump’s own running mate, to defuse adverse reaction, stated they would respect the results.

Despite all efforts to play down Trump’s remarks, there is fear of riots by his fanatical supporters. Trump, after all, appealed to the most desperate in American society. Through the campaign, the candidate stoked the despair, attacking the entire political class as corrupt and bankrupt.

The desperation could result in civil disorder after today. Some Trump supporters have threatened Hillary with harm. Like those in the UK who voted for Brexit, the Trump base is composed of the despairing white blue-collar workers and the undereducated fearful of being marginalized by the entry of migrants.

Saturday night, US time, an anti-Trump Republican came to his Reno, Nevada rally and managed to get close to the stage. Someone raised an alarm over the possibility the man had a gun. The Secret Service detail quickly whisked Trump off the stage and the man was taken down. He was beaten up and subsequently released without charges.

Although the incident was clearly established to be a false alarm, Trump’s own son described it an “assassination attempt.” He apparently inherits his father’s propensity to be loose with the facts.

This is not the first time violence erupted at a Trump rally. It simply underscores the temperament and the unfounded fears that animate his voting base. That temperament, along with Trump’s own, creates the anxiety greeting this election.

I have no liking for Trump. I think he is a buffoon with a primitive understanding of the world. He lies blatantly when it suits the moment. But then I am not an American voter.

There are enough American voters who deny climate change and many of the things science taught us. There are enough voters bigoted about women and non-white immigrants. Trump could still win this vital contest and throw American civilization back a hundred years.

This is the reason why much of the rest of the world observes the US vote with more trepidation than usual. We see Trump as a loose cannon that could upset the fragile peace and raise tensions across the globe. The American president, after all, is commander-in-chief of the world’s most powerful armed forces.

More imminent than raising tensions globally, Trump represents a mindset from more primitive times. He draws support from extreme social conservatives who frown upon the hard-won tolerance of contemporary culture. He draws support from people who resist regulation of private individuals owning assault rifles. The Ku Klux Klan and other hate groups endorse this man.

Trump is not the candidate of middle America. He is the candidate of the most narrow-minded of Americans.

If he loses this election, he will take down the Republican Party with him. If he somehow wins this election, against the odds and against common sense, he will take down his nation with him.

No one since Adolf Hitler won free elections on a platform of hate. Trump, if he wins, will devalue democracy in America – and possibly the rest of the world.

After today, after a divisive and insane presidential campaign, we can only hope that civility is quickly restored to American politics after all the damage incurred the past few months.