Awaiting An Outcome !

In 2016 the world gasped when the " unelectable " Donald Trump swept into office in the United States.  Four years later it is evidently clear that an election to either reaffirm him or force him to leave office is balanced on a knife edge.

It looks like the final count will see Joe Biden claim the oval office, but then we will probably see a repeat of the Obama years with a a President's politics our of harmony with the political party with the numbers to control that all important Senate.

In state after state this has been the tightest vote in US history.   Voting is optional in the US and this time around more people took the trouble to vote than ever before.  Sadly, it is the wealthy supporting Trump and Black Americans and Latinos in fear of losing their health benefits who are behind Biden.

The balancing factor is those with previous manufacturing jobs who saw whole industries move to China.  Trump has withdrawn American from the role as the " world's policeman " and instituted an " America First " trade policy which rejects creating an equal world.  Trump has vast " redneck " support and that can be dangerous in a country awash with guns.

For much of the twenty-first century America adopted as " isolationist " stance until it was inevitably drawn into both the first and second world war.  Then it virtually rebuilt a shattered Europe and stared down Russia during the years of the " cold war ".  America is again turning inward and vacating the middle ground which is fast becoming a Chinese presence,.

For a " middling power " nation like Australia these are dangerous times.  We are tucked away in the lower South Pacific and China is our most important trade customer.  There is currently trade friction which is causing  retaliation by China rejecting acceptance of many Australian exports on dubious health and safety grounds.  Our prosperity heavily relies on establishing free trade agreements with either America or Europe if this China trade fails.

We are not a nuclear power and we shelter under the American nuclear umbrella.  Our defence arrangements rely heavily on the outlook of the person who sits in the oval office and this American election will be viewed with more than passing interest by our government in Canberra.  One of the flash points for world trade is contained in the South China sea to our north and this is becoming a divisive waterway between two powerful navies.

What happens in American politics affects the rest of the world and America is presently at turning point.  The American people are making a decision which will see politics swing to either the left or the right by whoever wins the oval office for the next four years.

Sadly, the end result may not be derived from the mere counting of votes.   That final decision may be made by a court judgement from the most powerful court in America.  That is the outcome that will effect how events are recorded in the history books.