Regarding the upcoming US presidential elections, only two things are certain: it will take place on November 8; and it will not be won by an Independent or Third Party candidate. It is uncertain which party would hurt more from the chunk that an Independent or Third Party candidate would bite off.
Up to two weeks ago it was “fairly certain” that Democrat Hillary Clinton would win, regardless. But today, two days to the election, it is “uncertain” whether she or Republican Donald Trump would win. The stream has been so muddied that American voters, generally fickle and unpredictable, have shifted their attention from the terrible things they know about Trump to the things they are told they don’t know about Hillary.
The main source of uncertainty is the series of emails from Hillary’s private server which the notorious digital hacker Wikileaks has splashed onto the public view space. Some are official documents but not “classified” at the time they were originally sent and received; others are deleted—and it is uncertain whether they were personal and private, as claimed, or indeed super-secret, classified documents.
So far, there is no evidence that the server was ever previously hacked into, nor any documents stolen nor state secrets revealed. No mention is ever made of the fact that some earlier Secretaries of State also used private servers—equally harmlessly—nor of the reason why they all did so, namely, the sub-optimal official digital equipment they found themselves stuck with.
Even so, “fear of Hillary” was doubled when, 11 days to Election Day, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) threw a stink-bomb at her by announcing that the laptop of her closest assistant was to be searched for possible classified documents. No further details were given. Trump (and the Republicans) started singing the Director’s praises and insinuating that Hillary had committed a crime, even though there are no new facts. The earlier investigation (05 July 2016) found “extreme carelessness” in the handling of classified material; but it found no crime, no intentional mishandling of classified material, no indications of disloyalty to the United States, and no efforts to obstruct justice. On those grounds the Bureau recommended that no action be taken against Hillary.
But now, in this new fouled atmosphere, “Trump of the Thousand Disabilities” made such rapid progress within one week that the race has become very tight. It is now a toss-up who should win. A wild and unprecedented situation indeed.
First of all, the new FBI announcement constituted a gross violation of protocol. No announcement of that sort could be made within 60 days of an election except with verifiable facts of imminent danger. The FBI Director had no facts, and could provide none in the intervening 10 days.
Trump in his campaign speeches keeps calling Hillary “Crooked Hillary,” and his supporters keep chanting “Lock her up! Lock her up!” But most of the crookedness in the election is on Trump’s side. He loudly and brazenly boasts of his cleverness in exploiting every loophole to avoid paying taxes. He has steadily refused to publish his tax records because it would expose to public view that he has paid little or no taxes over the years. Recently a tax document of his was smuggled out which showed that in the mid-1990s he claimed a $916 million business loss, and used it to escape paying any taxes for 18 years. He styles himself a smart businessman; but in his career he has deliberately bankrupted six of his businesses, ruining shareholders and employees while he himself sailed high and unscathed.
Trump says he started business with $1 million from his father and has parlayed it into $10 billion; but trade experts assess his worth at $3.4 or $3.7 billion.
Speaking of crime, it may be Trump that needs to be prosecuted and locked up for violating the US embargo against Cuba when in 1998 his company spent money in Cuba exploring the prospects of building a casino there. He denies it; but the documents are clear.
There is ample evidence that Trump violated US laws in his handling of monies solicited by his Trump Foundation, using such monies to pay a court fine and purchase a photograph of himself. A cloud hangs over the foundation: it is not even clear what if any charitable work it does.
On the contrary, the Clinton Foundation is globally renowned for its charitable work. Trump badmouths it continuously, saying it was a cash cow for the private purse of the Clinton family; that it was a “pay for play” arrangement whereby Hillary Clinton,as Secretary of State, provided political or business favors to cash contributors. But probes into the records have shown that Trump is wrong.
Most of the argument in this election has consisted of ad hominem jabs; little attention has been paid to large issues affecting the wellbeing of the vast majority of ordinary citizens. Trump claims he will cut taxes, create 15 million jobs over 10 years, bring back the corporations which migrated their manufacturing abroad in the past three decades, and raise America’s economic growth once again above 3 percent.
But it’s mostly hot air; bogus. He is either vague or silent on how he would accomplish these enormous goals.
How (with what incentives?) do you bring back corporations that went abroad for cheap labor and super-profits, leaving millions in America unemployed and the middle class devastated? How do you raise significant money without raising taxes on the rich and super-rich individuals and corporations, as Hillary proposes?
Election day and after will be interesting.
