Just in case you’ve not been paying attention, today is the American presidential election. Meaning that tomorrow it will be over – unless there’s some endless recount like in Florida in 2000. I am incredibly thankful for this.

American politics just seems ugly to the core. It’s not a matter of extolling your own virtues and asking people to vote for you based on your merits. Instead it is a matter of trying to annihilate your opponent’s character and reputation. Whether the claims being made are true or not is utterly irrelevant. It’ s all about making the most newsworthy sound-bite in the most controversial manner possible. Who cares it it’s true – what’s important is what it  does for the ratings.

I’ve barely been following this election cycle at all. To my sorrow,  I can’t avoid it completely. There must be some kind of osmosis occurring – the relentless barrage of headlines about the bankrupt-reality-television-star-with-bad-hair’s  bigotry seems to have penetrated my brain. Against my will.

Since Trump and Clinton were confirmed as the nominees (and in Trump’s case even earlier) I have avoided reading a single complete article about the contest. It’s just too depressing. Yet somehow I am aware of Trump’s comments about forcing Mexico to pay for a wall to keep Mexican people out of the US; to ban travel by Muslim people to the US; to his threats of a trade war with China; to grabbing women by their genitals; to the stories of Hillary’s emails and the shady manner in which she is meant to have deleted them?

The image of that gurning imbecile Trump prowling around like a heavy breather with intestinal woe, on the debate stage is lodged in my head somehow.

His nomination made me tune out as much as I could possibly manage. The fact that such a bigot and idiot could be regarded as a  viable candidate made me despair.

There is something rotten in the state of Denmark (or should that be Delaware) when such an extremist freak seems to be able to buy his way into the election – thanks to his alleged wealth and television celebrity. Why don’t people care about his absolute lack of qualifications? And why aren’t people questioning more closely the fact he was a Democrat who supported Bill Clinton twenty years ago?

If I were to don my tin hat, I’d say it was all a conspiracy. That Hillary was the anointed next President who intends to work tirelessly for her corporate, banking and military masters; and that Trump was the buffoonish  distraction to allow Clinton to appear more moderate, measured and concerned with the health and wellbeing of the ordinary citizen.

And in a superficial sense that’s true. But Trump is so extreme, that Clinton once elected – and I am confident that the US electorate hasn’t plunged to the depths of stupidity, that would enable a Trump victory – will have free reign to accommodate her superiors’ corporate agenda. Meanwhile the convenient fact the lunatics are in charge of the asylum in Congress means that any progressive social legislation can be stymied.

I’m not a fan of Hillary Clinton. She’s not as bad as Trump. That much is self-evident. But not being as bad as a deranged reality television star is hardly a ringing endorsement of her capabilities.

Yes she was First Lady; and a two term senator; and the Secretary of State. Yes she is a woman – and wouldn’t it be a wonderful symbol to have a woman leading the most powerful country in the world?

But I can’t shake the feeling that she is the chosen one – the one whose purpose is to maintain the corporate status quo, who will do everything in her power to support the shadowy oligarchy controlling the country.

Bernie Sanders was the far better candidate in terms of representing the interests of ordinary people. Elizabeth Warren would have been a better candidate in terms of representing American people (plus she’s a woman). But it seems like the powers that be have decided on Clinton

The cards are stacked in her favour. She’ll be elected. And Wall Street and the banking industry will remain entirely unregulated; corporations will determine the country’s financial policy. She might engage in some cheeky little war somewhere far away, to keep her military chums happy. The democratic defecit in the US will continue to grow.

And no matter what she does there will be the unanswerable reply.

Well at least she is not Trump.

I really hope the Sanders supporters are on her case from the moment she gets elected, and issue notice to the Democrats that unless their concerns are addressed, that a third party is required to replace the failed 2 party system.

And if Trump is elected.. well in that case. I’m Team China.