US election campaign in the pandemic
In the US presidential election on November 3, Democratic challenger Joe Biden, ex-vice president under Barack Obama, will face Republican incumbent Donald Trump. The election campaign has so far been overshadowed by Covid-19, which has claimed more victims in the US than any other country. Against this background, what are the two candidates' chances?
President digging his own grave
Challenger Biden should sit back and see how things develop, Upsala Nya Tidning believes:
“Sooner or later, at the latest in the last TV debates in October, Joe Biden will have to tackle the questions regarding healthcare and inequality. At that point more will be known about the pandemic situation, the risk of a second wave, the chances of a vaccine and the economic outlook. In the meantime he can continue to let Trump dig his own political grave. The president does that as soon as he focuses on anything but the coronavirus. Like accusing his predecessors of conspiring against the White House ('Coronagate') and being the worst president ever.”
Biden doesn't stand a chance
Biden is not a dangerous rival for Trump, Daily Sabah is convinced:
“His various gaffes have shown us one thing: He does not pay attention to what he is doing. At 77 years of age, if he gets elected, he would delegate everything to the leftover bureaucrats from the Obama administration who would gladly go back to their unfinished NeoCon agenda. ... Still, many Americans are going to vote for Mr. Trump not because they hate Biden and the Democrats for not offering anything better but because they like Trump's policies. ... Despite the setback due to that tiny little virus that produced 90,000 deaths and 1.5 million infections, the economic shrinkage sustained is only five percent and the American people still remember that the gross national product (GNP) dropped twice during the Obama years - despite no epidemics.”
Trump will stop at nothing
We'll be in for a nasty surprise when the incumbent president switches to campaign mode, columnist Alan Friedman fears in La Stampa:
“Trump will show us once again that reality can be more incredible than fiction. ... So buckle up, because he's still in the White House for now, and merely having the status of president gives him tremendous power. Biden may be several points ahead in the polls, but Trump will stop at nothing to be re-elected. Will he be forced to throw hundreds of billions of dollars in helicopter money at the Americans? He'll do it. Will he have to make more ridiculous accusations - after Obamagate, Bidengate, and who knows how many more? He'll do it. He is ready to dust off the manual of Stalin, Mussolini, Goebbels and the dictators of the Third World.”