Like many, I can’t stop overdosing on the runaway train, in slow motion, that is this presidential election. That’s because, this time around, the train is on the much larger track of American Hegemony, with an arsonist inside threatening to set all of it aflame. I’m reminded of the essay written by Immanuel Wallerstein shortly after 9/11, “The Eagle Has Crash Landed.”
This moment speaks to the profound social decay that comes with the decline of Empire. The insanity of this election, with its surreal soap-opera quality, is a reflection of this cultural downward spiral as much as it is a sign of a deep internal political crisis within the country’s ruling class, made and paid for by the elites of both parties, whose policies have caused untold suffering on people of all races, domestically and around the world, for decades. Amidst the crisis, an unprecedented number of people here and around the world are tuned-in to find out which combination of social forces will prevail and influence the direction of the country.
The second presidential debate asks if Trump, the Houdini of political scandal, will prevail. Trump is master of both unrepentant fabrication and unrepentant truth-telling, however self-serving. He is especially skilled at exploiting the sense that the system is rigged, a pervasive feeling in the country. To that end, Trump was effective during the second presidential debate on misogyny, taxes, Bernie, and…