US Election: Donald Trump Is Powerless against It

America votes, we get excited. Our columnist doesn’t know whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris will win, but he is convinced that democracy will prevail in the end. Even if the election campaign feels like a civil war of words.

Have you caught U.S. election fever? Our media certainly has it bad: Donald Trump or Kamala Harris? Harris or Trump? It doesn’t matter where you read, hear or see the news. Whether it’s on TV, in the newspaper, on the internet, on Instagram or Facebook, it is this summer’s topic of conversation. You probably know that Barbra Streisand thinks Harris would make a good president. Katy Perry thinks so, too. All the celebrities do. You also know that Trump thinks his opponent is as dumb as a rock, and Harris thinks Trump is a criminal and a danger to democracy. Both now believe it is important to unite a divided country.

‘This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land, This Land Was Made for You and Me.’

Are you interested in my opinion on how the election will turn out? Not really, right? Because I don’t know how it will turn out. I know exactly how the voters in Rhineland-Palatinate and Berlin would decide the Trump-Harris duel: two-thirds for would vote for Harris, at least. But this duel will be fought in Wisconsin and in Georgia, not in Germany. Nor will it take place in Hollywood, where work has presumably begun on adding the first woman president to Mount Rushmore. #KamalaForMountRushmore! I have the exclusive hashtag at the moment, but that could change in a minute.

What I find remarkable is that there is so much crystal-clear analysis in the German media: Why Trump has become unbeatable in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after taking a bullet to his right ear, or why Trump, a convicted criminal, definitely cannot win a race against Harris, a former prosecutor; that the time is ripe for a Black president, that time simply isn’t right for a Black president. From the depths of our local press, savvy American experts emerge who can tell me exactly what Black voters in Detroit, Michigan, or the white middle class in Cleveland, Ohio, are thinking. I hope my colleagues know their home towns as well.

Election results in the U.S. are fundamentally difficult to predict. Because a few thousand votes often determine whether the state’s electors go to the Republican or Democrat candidate. TV images are also deceptive: we see a crowd cheering for Trump as their savior, and a crowd celebrating Harris as if she were a pop star. These are fringe groups. But, what about those who find Trump to be too chaotic and Harris to be too left-wing? Many women support the Democratic candidate’s position in favor of liberal abortion rights, but also like Trump’s wall against migrants. Who will they vote for? America is not a country of parties, but a country of individualists.

’I’m Not a Christian and I’m Not a Jew, I’m Just Living Out the American Dream

Something extraordinary is happening in this election campaign: the old operating system in Washington has crashed repeatedly over a brief period. The first time, the whole drama surrounding Joe Biden became apparent in the TV debate: a president with signs of age-related impairment is in the White House. The second time, Donald Trump literally escaped death by the skin of his teeth, and in the moment presented himself as a virile instinctive politician striking a pose of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Finally, a broken President Biden withdrew his candidacy on the social platform X, and nominated Harris as his successor.

Each of these events alone could potentially decide the election. Taken together, they create a confusing and chaotic situation. Spin doctors play an important role in U.S. politics; people, who work behind the scenes and give reality the spin that benefits their cause. Their messages so far have been that yes, Biden is fit, he just didn’t get enough sleep before the TV debate, or that Biden won’t last a second term. Old stories that nobody wants to hear anymore. The new ones are only just being written.

’And Don’t Speak Too Soon, For the Wheel’s Still in Spin. For the Times They Are A Changing’

The polls are also unsettled. People invested a great deal of time and money into finding out how the duel between the two old men would turn out in each of the notorious swing states. Now, they must toss their worthless files and start again: Trump versus Harris in Michigan, Harris versus Trump in Ohio. It will be a few weeks before the polls provide a reliable picture of the political mood.

Trump has made two contradictory statements about his new rival. First, she is particularly easy to defeat, who would vote for a crazy, ultra-liberal left-wing radical? Then he castigated the Democratic candidate for fraudulently removing his favorite opponent from the race so close to the election. This is actually a minor catastrophe for his campaign, where many billions of dollars have already been spent on anti-Biden Instagram posts and anti-Biden videos on TikTok, as well as anti-Biden spots on the major TV channels, all bad investments. Naturally, it isn’t much different for the Democrats, who must dump all of their Biden campaign materials. But they don’t talk about it. Instead, they are proudly publishing new records in donations to the Harris campaign. Pride is a very American emotion.

’I Live in America. Say It Loud, It’ll Make You Proud.’

Despite all their differences, while Trump and Harris do not share a common platform, they do have the same message: everything is at stake on Nov. 5, the country and democracy. However, their understanding of democracy is not the same. Harris sees it as the Democratic Party’s administration, while Trump sees it as his own. They engage in this difference of opinion through a kind of verbal civil war. No, not just Trump, we are used to that from him. Harris’ first TV spot already puts a wedge in the block. It’s a pathetically staged message: either Trump, i.e., chaos, hatred and fear, or Harris, i.e., freedom and democracy. A pop ballad by Beyoncé playing in the background.

’Singin’ Freedom! Freedom! Where Are You? Cause I Need Freedom’

Many commentators conclude from the verbal gaffes and melodramatic exaggeration when it comes to voting that U.S. democracy really is on the brink. Some are seriously concerned, others ask with a shudder: Wasn’t it always clear that the American cultural imperialism and the Silicon valley capitalist decadence would eventually collapse?

You may think I’m naive, but I don’t believe so. It doesn’t matter whether Americans vote for Harris or Trump, it doesn’t matter how much venomous rhetoric will spread in the remaining 98 days. Election Day will show that the American democratic institutions are rock solid. The lyrics from different performers that I have scattered throughout this piece show the solidarity of the American system.

Yes, Trump has already tried to show that he is indispensable as president. The events he provoked, the storming of the Capitol, all a disgrace. But, then people made it clear to him that his time was up and that no candidate can decide for himself whether he has won. It will be no different the second time around.

Isn’t it this very democratic process that draws us into U.S. election fever? A world power chooses its president. One man, one vote. One woman, one vote. In the other world power, China, it’s the Central Committee of the Communist Party that decides. In the former world power Russia, it is the would-be tsar, Vladimir Putin, who decides. In America, Americans decide. With this in mind, keep on rockin’ in the free world!