The word from Berlin and surveys departing on several different course to gauge public sentiment for the US election is overwhelming in favour of keeping the incumbent in power, both for charismatic reasons and for self-interest.
The observations of outside, apart from the mรชlรฉe of the alternately courted, demonized and pandered voting public, gave me more and more cause to wonder how it is that people can be persuaded to vote against their own self-interests and move retrograde on small yet significant gains. German opinion cites an economic introversion and protectionism that will create an unfavourable trade environment and a swaggering defensive posture that not backed up by ability (economic latitude) but rather demanding more of NATO partners in order enable their ventures, while other priorities, like ecological stewardship, fall by the wayside. Such secondary, knock-on consequences sound dire enough, and I wonder what possible first-order geo-political results might pan out, either by a pretend mandate or warring factions exhausting resources and credibility on a dishonest drive whose rules have been determined not by consequence but rather by the ephemeral spin of the media and framed fears.
