This blog’s been inactive for quite some time, but in my defense, I’ve
spent the last eighteen months following the pantomime that turned out to be,
the 2016 US Presidential Election.
Of course, we now know that baring unforeseen circumstances, on January 20th 2017, Donald J. Trump
will be sworn in as the 45th President, but for me, the biggest surprise of
the entire electoral process was that more people hadn’t seen that result coming.
For eighteen
long and arduous months the election bounced from one scandal to the next, both
real and invented, as the once impartial media shamelessly backed their chosen candidates
whilst shafting all other runners in the race. If I’d been asked to describe the
process, from distant beginning to recent conclusion, I’d have to say that the
entire election cycle became a metaphor for the rest of the world in 2016: “Totally
Fucked-up”.
Even now, many of those who didn’t support Trump are protesting the outcome and claiming that based
on ‘Popular Vote’, Hillary Clinton actually won the election. No matter how you feel about
the Electoral College or Donald J. Trump, and in my eyes there’s a special
place in Hell reserved for both of them, just to the right of the plot marked “Bill and Hillary Clinton”, making such claims after the event seems a little
churlish. (I don’t remember German fans disputing the outcome of the ’66 World Cup
Final because at the end of ninety minutes, instead of going directly to penalties, they'd played thirty more minutes of extra time during which time England scored two more goals).
So, despite my best attempts to avoid excessive vulgarity, I
think ‘Totally Fucked-Up’ is a fairly accurate description.
For the record, it should
come as no surprise to any of you that in the absence of a genuine left-of-centre candidate, I'd "Felt The Bern" and supported the Senator from Vermont. However, with the benefit of hindsight, knowing that Americans had been so determined to send democracy back to the Dark Ages, I don't know why they didn't deploy the nuclear option and simply write-in "King George III".
The irony of writing a critique of US Democracy from my desk here in Thailand hasn’t escaped my attention, and if Alanis Morissette is still
following this Blog then perhaps she’ll be in touch.….. don’t you think?