Opinion | Trump Vs. Biden: Terminal Rot

By Thomas Hon Wing Polin

As expected, what was merely The Greatest Show on Earth (a.k.a. the US presidential election) is now displaying its true colors as The Greatest Monkey-Show on Earth.

The first verbal brawl between the combatants was not only far more pathetic than even cynics predicted. It might also mark a milestone in the self-destruction of the American Empire and the ideology underpinning it.

The event was supposed to be a debate over ideas and policy, the big issues of the day. And the debaters were meant to be the two best candidates thrown up by liberal democracy, the West's long-reigning theology as practiced by cabal chieftain USA.

To most of the thinking world, however, yesterday's fiasco was anything but. It was a raucous free-for-all, with anything thoughtful drowned out by cacophony and chaos. This farce should by rights put a final nail into the coffin of American -- and Western -- pretensions to any kind of global leadership.

We may indeed have arrived at the end of history -- the terminal point of liberal democracy and the West’s centuries-long domination of the world. Messrs. Trump and Biden are today’s exemplars of a system, a way of managing human affairs, that simply cannot be taken seriously anymore.

The rot has been extensively itemized in countless quick commentaries on their encounter. It is so deep and so pervasive that the entire edifice cannot but collapse of its own weight.

The problem would have been challenging enough if the USA had focused all its energies and resources on tackling it. But Washington’s rulers have other priorities. For all their nation’s woes, these elites seem obligated by their predatory DNA to warmonger globally, notably against the great independent powers of China, Russia and Iran. Such overstretch is likely to become the fuse that eventually ignites the Empire’s implosion.

As The Greatest Monkey-Show heads down the homestretch, talk is growing of an "October surprise" -- which could come on any number of fronts. Greater conflict and disorder are guaranteed.

Beijing, Moscow and Tehran need mainly to stand their ground and minimize as much as possible any damage from the Empire’s accelerating degeneration. That in fact seems to be their strategy.

As someone said, the darkest hour is just before the dawn.

Hong Kong-based Polin writes the blog "Hong Kong, China" and contributes to the "21SilkRd" group, both in Facebook.

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