US Election just weeks away.

 US Election just weeks away

We are now just weeks away from what could be an era defining election in the United States of America. Next month the USA has to decide one way or the other. Their choices are unenviable because the options are so limited and you have to feel so sorry for them. Whenever we have dilemmas or dodgy patches throughout our lives we normally turn to people we feel we can trust and who love us. But in early November, one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world will be voting in the next President of the United States of America and that's a thankless task. 

Now the reality is that America is now faced with a straightforward decision. Do they pick as President a man with perhaps the most humiliating track record as former President or do they plump for the first woman to lead the country? In one corner, we have Donald Trump, whose very name is designed to send shivers down your spine, the feelings of dread and foreboding that young children normally get when mum and dad tell them that their long summer holiday is over and it's time to go back to school.

The very mention of Trump  is so offensive to the ear and deeply abhorrent to contemplate that you wonder if this is really happening to the country the United Kingdom continues to call its most enduring ally since the end of the Second World War. There is now a painful awkwardness about everything connected to American politics that has now been festering ever since Trump first held the reins of power in the White House as President. 

These are worrying times for the United States because both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have now become such a toxic influence on their country that it's hard to believe that there could ever have been a worse time for those living in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, California, Ohio, Michigan, Chicago and Pennsylvania, Texas and Dallas. Throughout the 50 states and innumerable ghetto lands of the US and those cohesive communities in the deep South, there is an uncomfortable fear of the unknown, a terrible suspicion that life may never be the same after the Election and anything can happen or not as be it the case.

It is still hard to believe in hindsight how Donald Trump came so close to power and how anybody could attract such a hard core, dedicated following from such a vast majority of the American population. We all know about the potty mouthed nonsense that continues to pour from Trump's mouth, the ludicrously illiterate ravings and rantings, the totally indecipherable absurdities that continue to reverberate around the world.

Trump is an undoubtedly a political loose cannon, a dangerous liability to the whole of the globe and even now some of us are trembling in case he gives his consent to another Vietnam. Now of course that's an exaggeration but you never know because Trump looks like he's capable of inflicting so much damage with his mouth that even innocent civilians must be biting their fingernails. By his own admission, war does appear an appealing prospect to him but we must hope that even Trump will try and think through his more outrageous statements.

And yet you can't help but feel sorry for the Americans because Trump is so full of his own vaingloriousness and pumped up pomposity that if anybody dare puncture his monumental ego, he may threaten to take you to court and sue you for every dollar that he may have at his disposal. Trump is so ferociously opinionated and unapologetically tactless that if somebody had just suggested he join a charm school he may well have just dismissed them as village idiots.

In the case of Kamala Harris the jury is well and truly out since little is known of her as a potential president of the United States. She does have her fanatical supporters and, of course, the rational commonsense and exceptional intelligence that Trump will never be able to claim or perhaps we've got it all wrong about him. To his credit, Trump will always have their ear for all of those eccentrics who still think of him as the best thing sliced bread. Trump fires off all manner of mockery and vicious vitriol at Harris because he knows that she could yet beat him on the day of the election.

Yesterday Harris delivered from her pulpit, preaching to the converted and pontificating on all kinds of issues so close to America's heart. There were the traditional promises of a healthy economy, low levels of unemployment, the Constitution which enshrines the gun culture and a secure, prosperous America. Both Harris and Trump have the best interests of the United States at heart but only one can be right and we all think we know the answer to that conundrum.

Last week, former President of the USA Jimmy Carter, now so highly esteemed and most commendable of Presidents, celebrated his 100th birthday. Your mind travelled back to that now famous handshake between Anwar Al Sadat and Menachem Begin, the notable Prime Minister of Israel. It signalled a beautiful peace agreement between Egypt and Israel. Standing between Sadat and Begin was that admirable man who grew up as a peanut farmer and then became President of the United States. Carter was the face and voice of peace and reconciliation.

The thought occurs to you that now either Trump or Harris will have their work cut out in the ongoing war between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah. Trump was the man who once dressed up as a chicken in some easily forgotten American variety TV show and this is the man who wants to take America to the promised land, this power crazed megalomaniac who aspires to rule with a rod of iron at the White House and the Oval Office.

Kamala Harris simply wants to be remembered as the first female President of the United States. There are rumours that some of her policies are less than palatable and a vote for Harris could be wantonly wasted. The other day, in a head to head TV debate on American TV, Harris just started giggling at Trump barely believing what she'd just heard. Trump, with that blond orange head of hair still playing games on Trump's head, kept blustering and bellowing away like one of those highly amusing characters at Speakers Corner at London's Hyde Park. 

Here in the UK, the USA will always have our unwavering admiration and support. But the truth is that come early November, decisions will be made and fates sealed. It's either Harris or Trump. Some of us believe that it may just as well be those other legendary American comedians who went by the name of Abbott and Costello. Rest assured America. Here in Britain we are thinking you.