Trump vs Harris: how did US politics become so circus-like in my lifetime?

Latest updates: Follow our full coverage on the US election It’s currently looking like Donald Trump will return to the White House in 2024. At first glance, regardless which side of the political aisle you reside, it might be tempting to think that with the Presidential election nearing the finish line, we might get a return to normality in the US as the toxic political ads and ratcheted up rhetoric evaporate. Don’t bet on it. Mr Trump has made not in any way hidden his preference for divisive politics, his affinity for making an enemy out of anyone who disagrees with him, nor has he shown any sort of remorse for the violent January 6 insurrection. Those aren’t political thoughts, those are realities to even the most casual observer. In many ways, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are as different as they come in politics, for many reasons. Yet one thing both candidates in this highly divisive election agreed upon during the rough and tough campaign trail was that this was the most important Presidential election ever. Given the platter of geopolitical problems coupled with US domestic disagreements over the economic and social policy, few would argue with them. Yet we’ve heard about the unprecedented importance of US presidential elections throughout the last few cycles. For once, in this writer’s opinion, it would be refreshing to experience a dull, unimportant, and purely incidental presidential election . Do yourself a favour, watch TV news election highlights from the 1996, 1992, 1988 or 1984 presidential elections. Watch the debates as well while you’re at it. What you will find throughout the videos is a refreshingly dull, civil and informative. In short, it seems like a completely different world, because it is. Not to fall into the trappings of golden-age thinking, but how did we get to this circus-like political atmosphere in which we currently reside? Some may accuse me of recency bias given my age of 39, but to me, it definitely feels that in addition to the polarising and ratcheted up rhetoric presented by Mr Trump, that the tensions seemingly baked into our Presidential elections can be sourced by to the 2000 election between Vice President Al Gore and then-Texas Governor George W Bush. That election had just about everything to sew distrust in the minds of many Americans. You can start with the fact that Al Gore won by popular vote by more than 500,000 votes, only to see the electoral college emerge as the deciding factor the would lead to his defeat. Yet that grossly oversimplifies the fact that there was ample confusion over a problematic ballot design that saw a disproportionate number of people vote for independent conservative Pat Buchanan in Florida. Making matters more dysfunctional, when a recount in Florida finally got under way and showed Al Gore on path to win the sunshine state, the Supreme Court stepped in and made what many describe was a partisan 5 to 4 decision to halt the recount, and essentially send George W Bush to the White House. Any trust that was built up in the countless presidential election cycles quickly evaporated. The idea of voting itself, it seemed, suddenly became polarising in the subsequent presidential elections. Somewhere along the line, distrust in elections shifted mainly to the Republican Party. It coincided with the rise of Mr Trump and his blunt political rhetoric, and it remains to be seen if it will linger if and when he leaves the political stage. Most recently, a Pew poll found that 90 per cent of Harris supporters were confident in the integrity of US elections, while only 57 per cent of Trump supporters had confidence. Yet when Pew asked if those surveyed felt the Supreme Court would make non-partisan decisions if Presidential election court cases came on the docket, only 6 per cent of Harris supporters felt the land’s highest court could leave politics out of its decisions. There are no quick fixes that will make this level of distrust and anger go away at this point. Regardless of who whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump emerge victorious, there’s much work to do to calm the rhetoric. Although many will rightly point the finger at Mr Trump for his xenophobic, racist and bombastic style, it’s worth noting that he is simply exploiting the divisions that have gone unresolved stemming back from so many years ago. I don’t have any particular answers. Finding big picture, consensus issues that both sides agree on is a start, so too is the idea of term limits for the Supreme Court perhaps. That’s just off the top of my head. Regardless, again, just to reiterate my main thesis. I sure would like to see a boring Presidential election again in my lifetime.