Traditionally, American presidential elections come to a balancing act between the Republican and Democratic parties without much disruption, except in 2016 when a real estate magnate unexpectedly won the election and resolved to "make America great again".

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Traditionally, American presidential elections come to a balancing act between the Republican and Democratic parties without much disruption, except in 2016 when a real estate magnate unexpectedly won the election and resolved to "make America great again". His opponents never quite acknowledged their defeat, accusing him of complicity with one country (Russia), and influencing another (Ukraine) for personal gain. These destabilizing attempts - Russiagate and Impeachment - came to naught. Former FBI director, Robert Mueller, entrusted with an investigation of the first affair, found no evidence of wrong doing. The second died its own death. In politics, resentment never dies. It lingers on. So, it is in a heavy atmosphere that this election is taking place. Behind it, lay two visions of the world.

Political maneuverings

On several occasions, Donald Trump made it clear he was not prepared to leave the White House, were he not satisfied with mail-in ballots which he regards as fraudulent. Due to the pandemic, a number of Americans will vote by mail. Democrats are more prone to do so than Republicans, potentially giving Joe Biden an advantage, if indeed the procedure is fraudulent. [1] Reacting to the President's statements, Hillary Clinton urges Joe Biden not to concede on election night 'under any circumstances.' [2] This is a first! Never in American history has such a statement been made. In fact, the opposite is the rule: the loser quite willingly acknowledged the victory of his opponent. Things get worse.

Anticipating a crisis due to Donald Trump's refusal to relinquish power, a few Democrats imagined a scenario, dubbed the "red mirage" [3] whereby the night of the election, television screens will show a United States map covered with red (Republican) states and a few blue (Democratic) states on the East and West coasts. But this will be a mirage for all mail votes would not have been counted yet. Considering most of these votes to be fraudulent, Donald Trump will refuse to take them into account, and the country will be caught in a deadlock. Among the people who came up with this idea are John Podesta, White House's Chief of Staff under Bill Clinton, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff of former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, Rosa Brooks, a Law professor at Georgetown University, as well as some Republican defectors, such as Bill Kristol who wrote a manifesto entitled: "Be Aware of a Chaotic Election" in which he presents himself as a guardian of the Constitution. This is all well and good, but in refusing a Trump victory regardless of the outcome, they put themselves on the wrong side of the law. Furthermore, envisioning as they do the secession of three states [4] with a long-standing pro-Democrat majority, should they not obtain satisfaction, plants the seeds of a civil war.

Not every truth is fit to be told

It's a well-known fact: Donald Trump is a liar" yet, sometimes he tells the truth.

During a recent rally in Winton-Salem, he declared: "Our only reason to be in the Middle East is to protect Israel" There was a time when we desperately needed oil. This time has passed". Philip Weiss is one of the rare commentators who brought up this remark. [5]

On September 5^th, Donald Trump told another truth: Pentagon leaders "want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and the planes" happy"" [6] Not surprisingly, he was wrecked over the coals by the military establishment which is understandable, but he also was excoriated by the medias which is strange since he was simply rephrasing what President Eisenhower said in his farewell address.

Asked what he thought of the World Trade Center collapse, he visibly forgot to hold his tongue before answering when he declared that the towers could not possibly be destroyed without the use of bombs. [7] Doing so, he brutally denied the official doxa - a doxa that a number of studies disputes. [8] [9]

Foreign policy in ambush

Political experts repeat over and over again that domestic issues are the decisive factor in a presidential election, and they are right, except for this one. There is an unwritten plan in the Democratic platform to settle the Iranian issue once and for all, and to resume the hegemonic course expounded in the "Defense Planning Guidance" of February 1992, or in "A project to create a new American century" of September 2000, as well as in other official or semi-official documents. General Wesley Clark, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, summed the Pentagon's plan regarding the Middle East in his October 3^rd, 2007 speech at the Commonwealth Club of California. [10] Visiting the Pentagon ten days after September 11, he learned that plans were made to invade seven nations: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran, without Congress's consent. He called this a "policy coup". Donald Trump went as far as he could to satisfy the neoconservatives without attacking Iran - the last of the seven nations which has not been destroyed yet.

Donald Trump is not a man of peace, but he knows the United States no longer have the means of its policy. He reminded his electorate that the United States spent $7 trillion in their fight against terrorism. [11] And what does the United States have to show for it? Nothing but deaths, casualties and debts. Afghanistan is a new Vietnam. [12] Bashar al-Assad is still President of Syria. Russia is fighting alongside in Iran, at the mullah's request, allowing Moscow to return to the Middle East - an area it had long left. For all intents and purposes, China is now allied with Iran. Iraqi oil which was supposed to pay for the 2003 country invasion, according to Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush's Defense Secretary, is now exploited by China. The United States' foreign policy of the last twenty years is a dismal failure.

Donald Trump attempted to move away from it on several occasions. He has no sympathy for Kim Jung-un, but he wishes to make peace. Similarly, he is not about to kiss Vladimir Putin on the mouth - Russian style - but he knows that Russia is not a threat to the United States. Increased trade relations between the two nations would benefit them both, especially the United States - not to mention the fact that it would draw Russia away from China - America's strongest challenger.

Donald Trump or Joe Biden

So, there we are. Americans - citizens of the world's most powerful nations and oldest democracy - are given a choice between a real estate loose cannon and a befuddled has-been a la Andropov. Under the circumstances, they should choose the lesser of two evils, Donald Trump - a president who did not start a war in his mandate, as opposed to his predecessors - rather than Joe Biden - a man who embraces the neoconservatives' policy of everlasting wars and world domination, and whose greed was recently revealed by a Senate report. [13]

[1] "A list of the times Trump has said he won't accept the election results or leave office if he loses." CNN

[2] "Clinton says Joe Biden should not concede on election night 'under any circumstances'". Reuters

[3] Preventing a disrupted presidential election and transition.

[4] Washington, Oregon and California.

[5] U.S. is in the Middle East 'to protect Israel', not for oil. Note: this is not quite true. Were the United States to leave the Middle East, Russia or more likely China would quickly move in.

[6] Trump versus the military industrial complex. Los Angeles Daily News.

[7] Click Here

[8] 15-year later: on the physics of high-rise building collapses.

[9] Active Thermic Material Discovered in Dust from the 9/11 World Trade Center Catastrophe.

[10] Westley Clark's speech at the Commonwealth Club of California.

[11] The wars cost $6 trillion according to the Watson Institute of Brown University.

[12] The Afghanistan Papers: A secret history of the war.

[13] Hunter Biden, Burisma, and corruption: the impact on U.S. government policy and related concerns.

Authors Bio:

Former Vice President Citigroup New York (retired)
Columbia University -- Business School
Princeton University -- Woodrow Wilson School