Interesting Times

We live in interesting times. The American elections are just a month away, and it’s not sure who is going to be left holding the field following the result. The one with the most votes? Perhaps not: ‘…All the evidence, literally, all if it, lines up behind the proposition which is that Donald Trump may win, he may lose, but he will not, not now, not ever concede that he was defeated in the election…’ says The Atlantic here. The writer of the piece, Barton Gellman, is interviewed in a video here. NBC News has a similar story: ‘"We're going to have to see what happens," Trump said…’.

As far as ‘the most votes’ goes, the peculiar American system uses the Electoral College for each state’s decision (and the Supreme Court to rule on the details of who votes and how), and as Slate says here (while worrying about the recent Trump’s Supreme Court nominee), ‘…As has been noted many times over this past week, the Republican Party has lost the popular vote in six of the last seven elections and yet appointed 15 out of the last 19 justices…’.

Still and all, that tax story has got to hurt…

Compared to other threats that currently threaten our peace, Covid, Brexit and the ghastly prospect of Sober October (gulp!), a possible meltdown across the pond might end up as more than a footnote in future history books.

And so to Spain, where we also have problems with our Supreme Court (it’s too long been in conservative hands), with Catalonia (where the president has just been defenestrated), Madrid (where the regional and national government are quarrelling over whether to put the whole city in lockdown), the outing of Mariano Rajoy (accused in the Operación Kitchen of being party to the PP’s covert police operations),  the possible end of the Monarchy (Juan Carlos quietly brooding in a hotel in Abu Dhabi as the Government of Spain writhes in embarrassment), an absurd motion of censure (the PP and C’s will both vote against Vox’s candidate, and even if they voted for him, it would still fail) and finally, the likely Spanish 2020 deficit and financial meltdown.

The Minister for Universities, the normally obscure Manuel Castells, said this week in parliament "Este mundo, sí, este mundo se acaba". "I have written 45 books about the world, about how things are going", he says and then he categorically assured: "I believe that the world as we have known it is in danger, and I am not saying that it is over, but this world is, this world is over". Antena3 has the video here.