To any reasonably sane American, Hillary Clinton ran as a relatively bloodless, left-center technocrat in 2016. Nothing much to fear there, right? Not according to the Reactionary wing of the GOP, which viewed the election as the last chance to save the country from annihilation–the electoral equivalent of Flight 93. They didn’t have a majority, and they needed lots of help from unusual sources, but they won.
This year, both parties see the election as a Flight 93. The new GOP horsemen are socialists, rioters, and cancel culture warriors. The Democrats, on the other hand, see the nation changed beyond recognition if Trump pulls it out by the inept response to the pandemic, the recession, and the looming threat of the caudillo unleashed.
The winner will be the candidate who persuades swing voters that his chosen apocalypse is more frightening. My prediction? Only Fox viewers are worried about rampaging leftists in the suburbs and cancel culture, while everyone is affected by the recession and the pandemic. I don’t think the GOP nightmare is real enough to undecided voters to carry the day.