Irish Examiner view: World holds its breath as America votes
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On Tuesday, the “most consequential election” in America’s history — and possibly, depending on the result, in the world — takes place, and it will define the country for maybe decades to come.
Although some 75m Americans have already cast their votes, Tuesday is the day when one of the longest, most divisive, and vituperative election campaigns will finally bring US voters to the polls and ultimately decide the fate of one Donald J Trump.
Never in the history of American politics has one man so dominated the minds and thoughts of everyone in that country who is entitled to vote. Never in the geopolitical sphere has one man so dominated the minds and thoughts of everyone outside of that country.
Trump is an enigma who mystifies voters and observers alike simply by being a challenger for presidential office. This is because his record of scandal across his 78 years, even before he took top the political stage, is completely unprecedented.
In both his personal and political life, he has been sued by many, accused of momentous wrongdoing on many occasions, and investigated by so many agencies and prosecutors, it is hard to keep track.
He has been bankrupted numerous times; many businesses have failed; he’s been taken to court for conning his vendors, his bankers, and his own family; he’s a draft dodger; and he avoided paying any taxes for years. He has boasted of grabbing women by their private parts, has been reported to have cheated on all of his three wives, and has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women.
As a previous incumbent of the White House, he was the only president in the history of the US to have been impeached twice for high crimes and misdemeanours; he’s the only president ever indicted on criminal charges, and, he is the only president ever convicted of a felony (34 of them).
He has stirred up public fervour to the point that his supporters staged what was, to all intent and purpose, a coup — all on the basis of what was and still is a brazen lie. The volume of misdeeds he has been accused of and remains indicted for would have sunk any normal politician.
Since he won office in 2016, America and the world have learned that ‘Teflon Don’ does not go quietly into the night when beaten and his resurrection to fight today’s election illustrates his ability to fight an unrelenting stream of scandals.
In Tuesday’s election, he is not only struggling for his political life, but also — almost certainly — his freedom and that’s what makes him perhaps the single most frightening candidate ever to bid for high office, including some very nasty individuals. As America votes, the world holds its breath.
In another election thousands of miles from Washington, a pro-western candidate defeated a rival she described as “Russia’s man” in a vote critical for the continued independence and freedom of a tiny country.
The presidential election in Moldova saw the incumbent, Maia Sandu, see off pro-Moscow rival Alexandr Stoianoglo in a vote seen as pivotal to the country’s future.
Just a week after nearby Georgia (also formerly part of the Soviet Union) re-elected a pro-Russian government in a contested vote, Moldovan people were faced with a similar choice but, in this case, they looked west rather than east.
Stoianoglo, a former prosecutor who is under investigation for corruption, represented the Moscow-leaning Socialist party and was, according to Moldovan authorities, supported by a vote-buying scheme financed and directed by Russia.
Despite these efforts, the sitting president was re-elected and lifted western hopes of further loosening the Kremlin’s hold on its former territories.
With the exception of Ukraine and the three Baltic nations, Russia has largely held its sphere of influence by military, cultural, and economic pressure. However, the Moldovan vote at the weekend marked another turning point in the long-running struggle between Moscow and the West over the geopolitical alignment of formerly Soviet lands.