World Insights: U.S. presidential race yields slew of chaotic “surprises” leading up to Election Day

The election is predicted by U.S. media to be the “most divisive” in history. As the Election Day approaches, the tense political atmosphere keeping the American public on edge will only increase.

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) — The 2024 U.S. presidential race has been filled with astonishing events, presenting chaotic “surprises” each month.

An annual survey by the American Psychological Association revealed in October that the election has become a significant source of stress for the Americans, who fear that the election results could trigger political violence and even lead to the “end of American democracy.”

The election is predicted by U.S. media to be the “most divisive” in history. As the Election Day approaches, the tense political atmosphere keeping the American public on edge will only increase.

JANUARY: WEAPONIZING IMMIGRANTS

In January, the U.S. federal government and the Republican-led state of Texas clashed over immigration issues. The Texas Army National Guard set up barriers such as barbed wire fences at the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent immigrants from entering.

Meanwhile, it also denied entry of federal law enforcement officers, causing a standoff between the two sides to briefly escalate into an armed confrontation.

The “border crisis” highlights the conflict and division between the Democratic and Republican parties on immigration issues. Previously, Republican-led states such as Texas and Florida had repeatedly transported undocumented immigrants by bus or plane to cities governed by Democrats, using such moves as a weapon against the Democratic Party.

Barbed wire fences and buses transporting immigrants have become symbols of partisan strife in the United States, as politicians from both parties continuously politicise the issue and seek selfish benefits at the cost of further dividing the American society.

FEBRUARY: SNEAKER SELLER

On Feb. 17, former U.S. President Donald Trump made an appearance at a shoe exhibition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, showcasing his own brand of sneakers. Priced at 399 U.S. dollars, only 1,000 pairs were available for limited release.

On the day before, Trump received a sky-high fine from the state of New York, where a judge ruled that Trump must pay a fine of approximately 355 million dollars for exaggerating his net worth to deceive banks into providing better loan terms.

Trump’s fine should have hit the headlines, but was unexpectedly upstaged by “Trump selling shoes.” Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic of The New York Times, wrote in an article: “It’s easy to get distracted by the sheer absurdity of it all — a former president, selling sneakers!”

With sneaker culture popular in the United States, especially among young people and African Americans, the Trump campaign hoped to attract more young voters and minority voters, especially African American males, an article by the Associated Press said.

MARCH: QUITTING CONGRESS

On March 22, Colorado Republican federal congressman Ken Buck officially resigned, ending his tenure in Congress several months ahead of schedule.

Buck, who served as a congressman for over nine years, criticized dysfunction on Capitol Hill in his interview with CNN. “This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he said.

“It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress and having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress,” he said.

According to a March report by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 48 members of the current U.S. Congress have either resigned or announced their intention to resign, accounting for 11 percent of the total number of representatives and exceeding previous years.

The Washington Post said that in the past 40 years, there have never been this many Congress members voluntarily ending their terms early without plans to continue in other public positions.

Many of the departing lawmakers attributed their resignations to the bitter partisan battles and internal strife within their respective parties. From gun control to illegal immigration, the two major parties have been engaged in a constant cycle of attacking and obstructing each other on various issues, resulting in prolonged unresolved social problems that continue to escalate.

This wave of resignations from Capitol Hill largely reflects growing disillusionment among those at the top of American politics with the country’s political system.

APRIL: “CIVIL WAR”

The U.S. movie “Civil War,” released on April 12, depicts a doomsday scenario where the United States is once again plunged into a civil war.

While the movie is fictional, it reflects the current reality of division and opposition in the United States, echoing the anxieties of the American people.

Rolling Stone magazine said that the movie imagines “a future so very not-so-distant that you might accidentally mistake it for the present, in which the USA is once more at war against itself.”

The Atlantic magazine said it is “a narrative with uncomfortable resonance in these politically polarized times.”

In recent years, the United States has experienced political turmoil, social governance challenges, and sluggish institutional functioning, with extreme behavior and chaotic situations becoming the norm.

“The U.S. is now more divided along ideological and political lines than at any time since the 1850s,” said Bruce Stokes, an associate fellow at Chatham House. “America’s friends and allies need to understand that the United States has become a Disunited States. There are effectively two Americas — and they are at war,” he said.

MAY: GUILTY EX-PRESIDENT

On May 30, a jury in a Manhattan court in New York City ruled that Trump had violated New York state laws by concealing a 130,000-dollar “hush money” payment to an adult film actress during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and falsifying business records. He was convicted on 34 criminal charges.

It was the first time in U.S. history that a former president has been indicted or convicted in a criminal case.

Trump claimed that the case was a “witch hunt” and a “political attack” by the Democratic Party. Republicans also seized the opportunity to criticize the unfairness of the U.S. judicial system, characterizing it as politicized and weaponized.

“Division,” “resentment,” and “anxiety” … These are the words that the American media and scholars have chosen when discussing this year’s election.

Against the backdrop of political polarization, the confrontation between the Democratic and Republican parties continues to escalate, and Trump’s “historic” conviction undoubtedly intensifies the strife between the two sides.

JUNE: “POLITICIZING COURTROOM”

On June 11, a jury of 12 members in the U.S. state of Delaware found Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, guilty of three federal gun charges, marking the first time a sitting president’s child has been criminally convicted.

Hunter’s conviction has fueled mutual attacks between Democrats and Republicans, escalating the already fraught atmosphere of the U.S. presidential election. Hunter and Trump, now both convicted, assert they are victims of political persecution.

“This trial has been nothing more than a distraction from the real crimes of the Biden Crime Family,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“The case continued the trend of the courtroom becoming an extension of the campaign trail,” CNN reported.

“In an era of intense political polarization, we could be headed down a dangerous road. Even the perception of the justice system becoming politicized would be incredibly damaging, much less the reality,” it said.

JULY: ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

On July 13, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump was targeted in an “attempted assassination” while delivering a speech. A few days later, Trump officially accepted the nomination to become the Republican presidential candidate for the third time.

In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he was shot with a bullet “that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

“I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he said.

The attack was the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981, said the Associated Press, adding that it drew new attention to concerns about political violence in a deeply polarized United States.

“This is the worst sort of event that can happen in that environment, and I deeply worry that this presages much more political violence and social instability to come,” said Ian Bremmer, president of political risk research and consulting firm Eurasia Group, said in a video posted on X, formerly Twitter.

With Americans perceiving existential threats to democracy, he said the willingness to use violence could get higher than at any point since 1968 when Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were assassinated, and perhaps since the Civil War.

AUGUST: “FORCED” WITHDRAWAL

On Aug. 22, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention held at the United Center in Chicago, “resetting and reshaping” this year’s U.S. presidential election.

On July 21, Biden was “forced” to withdraw from the race under pressure from party leaders, lawmakers and donors.

Before Biden’s withdrawal, he and Trump exchanged accusations, each claiming the other was a “threat to American democracy.” After Harris stepped in, she criticized Trump’s policy proposals while repeatedly highlighting his criminal record, saying that it would lead the U.S. into “chaos, fear, and hatred.”

In response, Trump repeatedly asserted that Harris’s status as the Democratic presidential candidate lacked “legitimacy.”

Amid intense mutual attacks between the two camps, American media and experts believe that Harris and Trump will engage in a prolonged “contest” until the end, and the conflict between the two serves as a microcosm of the nation’s divisions.

“When it is over, no matter who wins, we will be more divided, with our fragile democracy and our country’s unity at greater risk,” said James Zogby, president of the Washington-based Arab American Institute.

SEPTEMBER: POLARIZING DEBATE

On Sept. 10, Harris and Trump faced off for the first time in a 2024 U.S. presidential debate in the city of Philadelphia.

During the debate which was scheduled to last 90 minutes, Harris spoke for a total of 37 minutes and 41 seconds, of which 17 minutes and 25 seconds were spent attacking Trump. Trump, on the other hand, spoke for 43 minutes and 3 seconds, with 12 minutes and 54 seconds dedicated to attacking Harris, according to The New York Times.

As the election race enters the “final sprint,” this “reality show” of an election highlights the increasing political divisions and polarization in the United States.

A perfect storm has been brewing for years now — fueled by extreme polarization, political violence, historic prosecutions and rampant disinformation, U.S. news website Axios reported, adding that mayhem is bound to rain down in November.

OCTOBER: BIG MONEY

On Oct. 19, U.S. billionaire Elon Musk gave a 1-million-dollar check to an attendee at the rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to back Trump. He also announced a plan to give away 1 million dollars each day until Nov. 5 to a randomly chosen person who’s signed a petition from his political action committee.

Musk, the richest man in the world, has given more than 75 million dollars to his pro-Trump super political action committee (PAC), according to CNN.

The money is the latest example of Musk using his extraordinary wealth to influence the tightly contested presidential race between Trump and Harris, Reuters reported.

After decades of sitting on the sidelines of politics, Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world, has said privately that he recently donated about 50 million dollars to a nonprofit organization that is supporting Harris’s presidential run, The New York Times reported on Oct. 22.

Forbes has recorded 83 billionaires supporting Harris and 52 backing Trump so far until Oct. 30. While many more billionaires may also financially back a candidate, their donations won’t be learned until after the election.

The 2024 presidential election is on track to be the most expensive in history.

According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that tracks and publishes data on campaign finance and lobbying, the two major-party presidential campaigns, their related super PACs, and other aligned groups will spend more than 15.9 billion dollars throughout the 2024 election cycle, breaking the record set in 2020, which stood at 15.1 billion dollars.

This once again illustrates the famous quote from former California Assembly Speaker Jesse Unruh in 1966: Money is the mother’s milk of politics. ■