Boris goes into lockdown

Poor Boris. For days, weeks, he has ben saying the last thing he wanted to do was go into a second national lockdown. But he was like King Canute sitting on his throne as the sea water lapped ever closer. After France and Belgium went into overall lockdown and Germany announced lockdown-lite and Spain went into curfew don't-move hibernation, there was no way, even though we are an island, that we could escape the Europe second-wave virus crisis. So here we are. From Thursday it's back to stay-at-home life for a whole month. Will there be a normal family get-together at Christmas? No I'm afraid not. Not this year. This year has to be forgotten, cast into the darkness, for ever to be locked away in the archives. Next year, not straight away but surely by Spring, it will be different, it will be better. But in the meantime I feel so desperately sorry for the restaurant and bar owners who have worked like crazy loons to keep their places open while observing the social distancing guidelines and now it's back to square one. At some point the economy is not going to take the strain any longer, we are already so heavily in debt it will take years to recover and pay back all the interest. When is it all going to end? Boris gave a pretty steady performance, spelling out why he had no choice but to announce what he had hoped to avoid. It's a tough job but I doubt many people will disagree with his decision, apart from those who still believe the whole virus thing is a hoax and we are all being locked away by a dictatorial government for some purpose that they can't quite explain. As long as they wear masks and stay away from me I don't mind them ranting on if it makes them feel good. But reasonable, sensible people know that Boris is right.

Will Democrat-inclined voters get up and vote for Biden?

The turnout for the US presidential election so far is breaking all records. But will all Democrat voters, or Democrat-minded voters make the effort to vote for Joe Biden? Is Biden the kind of guy who makes them all think, "oh my God, please remind me darling to vote today, we have to keep that nasty man Trump out and bring in that lovey fellow, what's he called." Biden is no Messiah but has he got enough kapow wazoom whizbang to persuade everyone to stir themselves and vote vote vote? It always amazes me how comparatively low the turnout is in US and UK elections when you know how many people are actually eligible to vote. Why is it that a lot of people either can't be bothered or deliberately decide against it. You hear the usual argument. "Oh I can't stand any of them, what's the point?" Basically what they are really saying is, "I'm not interested in politics or the future of my country, let them all go hang, they are all rotten. Just leave me alone." There are masses of people like that. There has to be, otherwise the voting turnout would be 100 per cent. But it's never 100 per cent, not in the US nor in the UK nor anywhere in the West. The only difference this time in the US election is that the pre-election turnout is staggeringly high, in some states as much as 80 per cent. If that is reflected across the whole of the country, it could be decisive. But for whom? Trump or Biden? It could mean a sudden surge in people who want to get rid of Trump or it could be a sudden surge of people who don't want Biden at any cost. I doubt it's the latter although it was definitely the case in 2016 with Hillary Clinton. Many people then decided they didn't like Hillary and voted for Trump to make sure she couldn't win, although it has to be said, and repeated, that Hillary won the popular vote by nearly three million, yet lost because of the bizarre electoral college system. The same could happen for Biden but there really isn't the same antipathy towards him as there was for Hillary. But there may well be a sense of boredom or disinterest about Biden that makes people think, "a decent guy but let's watch a box set instead". The rush to vote before November 3 may well be Trumpites who want to stick it to the Democrats.

The US election result WILL be delayed

I think I can safely predict that we will not be waking up on November 4 knowing who has won the US presidential election. There are going to be late late results coming in and now the US Supreme Court has ruled that absentee ballot votes received after election day in Pennsylvania and North Carolina will be allowed. That's probably good news for Joe Biden. More Supreme Court decisions to follow no doubt and by then the new Trump-nominated justice Amy Coney Barrett will play her part in making decisions. She wasn't involved in the the Pennsylvania and North Carolina rulings even though she is now a fully fledged member of the highest court in the land. Whether there are more late voting decisions or not, this election is going to lead to a legal and political battle never seen before. If it's going to be much closer than most pollsters are predicting - as I suggested yesterday - then a can of worms will be opened. It could take weeks or months for a final decision. This will be bad for America and bad for every economy around the world. The markets desperately need stability and a more predictable future. Right now if virus infections suddenly rise, the stock markets fall. If it looks as if the election result is going to remain in a state of confusion and uncertainty for any period, the markets will fall further. What we all need are the following: a vaccine as quickly as possible that will prove fabulously effective, a dramatic drop in virus cases, particularly virus deaths, a president of the United States chosen and confirmed lawfully, democratically and beyond question, and (for us Brits) a last-minute trade agreement with the European Union that offers the best possible compromise solution for both the UK and the EU. Unfortunately, it's possible that none of these things will actually happen.

What might Trump do if defeated?

If Trump loses on November 3 he will remain president for another 77 full days until Biden is formally inaugurated on January 20. Plenty of scope to continue building or undermining his legacy. Trump has a large ego and will want to go down fighting. I doubt he will be a magnanimous loser. It's just not in his nature. But could he be stopped if he authorised some covert foreign venture which could go wrong? Like a Bay of Pigs type venture, for example. The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba plot was of course begun and rehearsed during the administration of President Dwight Eisenhower but was not carried out while he was in the White House. The secret plan landed in the in-tray of President John F Kennedy when he succeeded Eisenhower in January 1961 and he went ahead with it although he must have had serious misgivings. The "invasion" was a disaster. Kennedy had literally been pushed into completing what his predecessor had foolishly started. Could Trump do something similar? Plan a covert invasion of somewhere, like, say Venezuela, and hand it to Biden to carry it through? Or even do something before the kick-out date of January 20 2021. As president and commander-in-chief, he remains with full powers according to the constitution until the next man takes over in the White House. This 77-day period is traditionally known as a lame-duck time, with the incumbent president whiling away his remaining days, pardoning a lot of buddies in jail and ticking as many boxes as he can before heading off into retirement. But I can't see Trump wanting to be seen as a lame-duck president. He will want drama and fireworks, and possibly lay the ground for causing Biden a whole lot of trouble when he first enters the Oval Office as 46th president. Or Trump could of course accept defeat with a smile and a shrug of the shoulders and be terribly nice to Sleepy Joe and leave with a final wave and air kiss. What do you reckon?

Is Biden the right man at the right time?

This decade is truly going to be momentous for the whole planet. The rise and rise of China, the rapidly progressing negative aspects of climate change, the aggressive ambitions of Vladimir Putin, the dangerous unpredictability of North Korea's Kim Jong-un,the alarming increase in extreme right-wing movements in the US and Europe, and, of course, the continuing struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. One has to ask, is Joe Biden the right man at the right time for these challenges? The only answer is: if he wins on November 3, he better be. But there have to be doubts, not just because of his age but because there may be concerns over whether he will have the drive and personality and vision to tackle all these challenges and come out a winner at the end. I'm not saying he can't do it but I'm worried that an old-style politician like Joe Biden might not be the right man to take on Xi Zinping, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un et al. But, as everyone accepts - probably even Trump - Biden is a decent sort of fellow and is likeable. A helluva lot more likeable than Donald Trump. And being nice can be effective. But not, I fear, with leaders like the three named above. They didn't get where they are today by being nice to anyone. Biden will have to show he has a ruthless quality beneath the smiles and handshakes. He and Kamala Harris could make a good team in the White House but so much will depend on whether the Democrats win control of the Senate. If they do, then Biden will have a much better chance of being an effective president, both at home and overseas. The leaders of China, Russia and North Korea have full control of their people and their political apparatus. If Biden wins but the Republicans retain control of the Senate, he will always struggle to get through the legislation and policies he wants, just like so many past presidents. A strong president can overcome such obstacles. A weak president can become overwhelmed. If Biden wins he may surprise us, especially with Kamala Harris standing behind him. But it will take time for my headline question to be answered.

Coronavirus in control in the US

Timing is everything in politics, especially nine days before the US presidential election. So when Mark Meadows, the very browbeaten White House chief of staff, says on national television that "we're not going to control the pandemic", it may be true, it may be honest, it may be adult and grown-up, it may be what should be said. But was it sensible to be quite so truthful when his boss has been going around saying the virus will be defeated and let's get on with life? Probably not! Meadows I would say has not been the most wonderful chief of staff. I acknowledge that being chief of staff in any White House but even more so in an administration where gut instinct is the byword for decision-making, is a challenge for anyone. But Meadows has wrong-footed on a number of occasions. And his bald statement yesterday to CNN's Jake Tapper about the virus being in control - that's the other way of interpreting his words - can't have sat very well with a lot of Americans who want their president and his advisers to boost their confidence and optimism about the future. Instead they got Meadows, in a hang-dog sort of way, declare that the virus can't be controlled. Unfortunately, however, Meadows is right. Like flu which comes back every winter, coronavirus in some form or other is going to stick around. But at some stage, probably later rather than sooner, there will be an effective vaccine, just as there is normally a pretty good flu vaccine produced each year. But in politics truth can have the opposite effect to what was intended. Meadows was no doubt trying to be realistic but the only comment he came up with that has made headlines is the one about not being able to control the virus. It won't go down well with the public, the Republican party and, most of all, with Trump who is no doubt steaming with anger and frustration. Just when Trump thought he had Biden on the ropes with his TV debate comment last week about eliminating the oil industry, his chief of staff ruins it by spelling out the facts of life with coronavirus. Trump can't sack Meadows so close to the election but if he were to win on November 3, I can't see Meadows surviving.

A lot of people are now panicking in the US

In the final stretch of the US presidential election people are beginning to make calculations and as a result many will be panicking whoever wins the election. If Biden wins, will he slam the rich, very rich and super rich with massive tax hikes, if Trump wins will it mean another four years of helter-skelter politics and decision-making that make life so unpredictable for businesses and for every other government on the planet? In the UK these calculations are pretty crucial. If there is to be a no-trade-deal Brexit, a trade arrangement with the US is going to be mightily important, and Trump is more likely to sign one than Biden. So much panicking going on. But in the US itself, voters have decided to take the matter into their own hands by turning out in massive numbers to vote early. The turnout figures are almost unprecedented. Still nine days to go and the numbers who have already voted are approaching 60 million. Some reports have claimed voters are prepared to wait in the queue for up to ten hours to cast their vote. If the final turnout is anything more than 60 per cent it could make a huge difference who wins on November 3. Let's look at the possible reasons for this. When one side is far ahead of the rival in the polls, there is always a danger that the wining-side voters might not bother to vote because they will say to themselves, "well he's going to win anyway, what's the point." Then there's the other argument. The predicted winner is so far ahead in the polls that the perceived losing-side voters will realise they have to do their bit for their man and rush out to vote to prove the pollsters are wrong. Based on no inside knowledge I believe there is probably a third explanation this time round. And that is, that despite the encouraging polls, Democratic voters know they mustn't be complacent and that they have an historic opportunity to kick out from the White House one of the most controversial presidents they have ever had. And the Republican voters are also aware of their historic obligations and know that if they are to prevent "Sleepy Joe" from ousting their man they have to vote in vast numbers to keep the door closed to Biden and his damned socialists. If I'm right, and both Democrats and Republicans are voting in numbers not seen before, or at least not for more than 100 years, then the election is going to be mighty close. That's my prediction. It's going to be very very very close. It could be Trump. It could be Biden. No wonder people are panicking.

I love alternative energy AND oil, Biden meant to say

It just shows the state of the argument in the US about alternative energy and saving the planet from horrendous climate change that Joe Biden's slip-up when he said he wanted to get rid of the oil industry has become a huge political hot potato and Biden could now lose in the big oil states, Texas, Arizona etc. Instead of sticking to his guns and being brave about the need to swap oil and coal for wind, sun and all the other alternative stuff, Biden frantically tried to put across a different message. All he meant was that government subsidies for the oil industry would be ended under his administration. But, sorry, Joe, that's not what you said in the Nashville debate. And by the way, all the desperate clarifications don't help one jot. You said it and you probably meant it. But that is the trouble with the whole climate-change issue. The only people who are really totally committed to doing something about it are not in government. Even if Biden wins next month you watch and see how committed he will be to change the whole US industrial base in order to force through alternative energy for all. Trump said he wouldn't do it because it would destroy America, and Biden, even though he has a big climate-change plan, will never get it past the Texas boys in boots and thus Congress. There are always compromises, none of which will benefit mankind. Which is why Biden was so anxious to tell reporters what he really meant to say in the debate. That's always a sign of political weakness, and I'm sure a lot of people, not just the oil barons, will have spotted it and think to themselves, "hey what else did he say that needs clarification?" It's all rather sad. Being brave in politics is far too dangerous. Biden has been low profile and non-controversial up till now and then he mentioned oil. Oops oops.

Wind power kills birds, says Trump

I loved the Trump/Biden TV debate in Nashville, Tennessee. It was brilliantly moderated by NBC's Kristen Welker, a very smart presenter, and some of the lines were classic. None more so than when Trump and Biden started talking about alternative energy and the benefits or non-benefits of wind power. Biden said wind power was what would save America and the world and that those working on turbines etc were making good money. Trump responded by saying wind power was dangerous and would add to the carbon footprint and, wait for it, would kill birds. Wind power kills birds was Trump's message. It was a hilarious moment. I'm not saying he's wrong, I'm sure some poor birds do fly into the turbines and come to a grisly end. But as an argument against wind power it was right out of a comedy show. But it was great entertainment and because the debate was properly moderated it meant we actually got a good idea of what each man is really like. I have to say I thought Biden was absolutely not impressive. The one thing I found annoying was his constant refrain "come on" which he said every time he disagreed with Trump. Which was all the time. He also referred to middle-class people sitting around their kitchen tables worrying about the future and lying in bed at night and putting out their arms only to find an empty side of the bed because of a partner having died of the virus. Yuk! That was pure abominable politics. It fell flat in my view. But the debate was more grown-up and much better organised, thanks to Kristen Welker and the mute button at her disposal. It was the last debate between the two men with just 11 days to go before the election. I think wind power will be the decisive factor!! As Trump said, he knows more about wind than Biden.

Trump is getting desperate but there is a glimmer of hope

By some accounts Donald Trump is now gettig desperate, fearful that he is going to lose. Every morning apparently he wakes up in a bad mood as the days slip away for him to overcome his rival Joe Biden and win reelection. Working for Trump in this mood must be challenging to say the least. There is so much dirt flying around, the latest being the participation of Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's closest lawyers, in the latest film by Sacha Baron Cohen showing him lying on a bed with a young woman leaning over him. I won't go into the details. They are gross! Whether there is any truth in the allegations or not about what Giuliani might or might not have been doing, it's just another ingredient in the rapidly deteriorating atmosphere in Washington as November 3 approaches. Tonight's TV debate between Trump ad Biden has new rules in order to prevent the sort of scenes we witnessed in the first debate in Cleveland, Ohio. But I can't imagine tonight's show will be anything other than unedifying. This is US politics at its worst. If the debate goes badly for Trump he is going to wake up tomorrow in an even worse mood. The only thing to brighten his day is an election prediction that goes against all the polls. The prediction made by Robert Cahaly, Trafalgar Group chief pollster, is that Trump will win because there are hidden Trump supporters who have not revealed their voting intentions to any polling companies. He was one of the tiny number of pollsters who predicted that Trump would win in 2016. Once again he is saying there are hidden Trump supporters today who have either kept quiet about their voting intentions or have lied to pollsters. Could that happen again? I think it's less likely because the country, Republican and Democrat, can now make up their minds after experiencing four years of a Trump presidency. In 2016 it was all about dislike of Hillary Clinton AND taking a gamble on a big guy businessman who wasn't a Washington establishment politician but a TV reality show magnate who would be a totally different style of president. So they voted for Trump but now they have to work out in their minsds whether that gamble paid off. So I think pollster Cahaly is pushing his luck with his prediction. The world has moved on. But it might give Trump a glimmer of hope as his mood deteriorates each day.

Trump DID pay tax - in China

It's just another hilarious anecdote in the Donald Trump presidential saga. He did, after all, pay quite a large amount in tax. But in China!! According to the latest delvings by The New York Times, Trump still has a bank account in China and paid more than $188,000 dollars in tax over a three-year period as a result. I should say the Trump business empire rather than Trump himself although it's difficult to disassociate one from the other. There's nothing wrong in having a bank account in China. Trump was hoping to build a hotel there, just like he had plans to build one in Moscow. But neither ambitions were fulfilled. It's the tax-paying that is so hilarious.Such a wonderful contrast to the years of avoiding tax in the US because of year-by-year business losses. Apparently. None of this stuff being produced by The New York Times in a series of Trump-bashing articles will make a blind bit of difference in voters' minds. Trump voters will vote for him whatever he has done in the past and whatever he is doing as president now. You only have to see the adoring, cheering faces on red-capped supporters as he speaks at rallies to know that young, middle-aged and old fans of the president remain loyal and devoted. Having a bank account in China? So what, they will say. The dirt dredged up by The New York Post on Hunter Biden and his father Joe and the Ukraine gas company seeking influence in Washington is beautifully timed to bash at Biden. If true, it could have a negative impact on Biden's hopes of winning the White House. But, again, I doubt it. Voters are pretty sick of all this stuff, aren't they? Also having read all about how the newspaper acquired the dirt - from a laptop left for repairs at a shop and not picked up and, maybe it was Hunter Biden who left it, all sounds highly dodgy to me. Could this have been a huge scam mounted by the Kremlin? Must be a possibility. No doubt all this will come up at the TV debate between Trump and Biden tomorrow (Thursday). I suspect the mute button available to the moderator to shut off the sound of fury from either participants will be the star of the show.

Brexit heading for the no-deal door

Michael Gove, Minister for the Cabinet Office and former columnist and home editor for The Times, has been spending all God's hours working on a blueprint for Britain leaving the EU without a trade deal. The so-called no deal Brexit. Now I suspect we really are on the verge of leaving without any trade deal. We will be on our own. And we will reach that point because of a massive miscalculation by our side or the EU's side. Both lots are currently engaged in a brinkmanship game which if it was poker between the last two players it would end up with one grabbing piles of cash from the table and the other ruined. In other words there would be a winner and a loser. In this case, if there is no trade deal there will be two losers. No winners. Britain is a hugely important trading partner for the EU. And the EU is a hugely important trading partner for Britain. So if the poker game ends with no winners it will be disastrous, whatever Boris says. He claims a no-deal Brexit will be fine and we will survive very nicely thank you. What we need is two winners, not two losers and the only way of reaching that amicable result is for a pretty big concession to be made on both sides. The two major issues are fishing and business competition. Nothing has really moved on these two issue for such a long time that this is where I fear the miscalculation will be made. Each side goes to bed at night believing that the other side will concede. But it's not going to happen with the two negotiators we have, Lord David Frost (why is he a lord?) and Michel Barnier (who behaves like a lord). They are stuck in glue. They cannot move forward or backward. Suddenly before we know it it will be too late, everyone involved will stamp their feet in frustration, and Britain will go marching into an uncertain future. Covid AND no-deal Brexit. What a legacy for Boris. Gove seems so pleased with his no-deal preparations that I almost suspect he desperately wants it to go ahead to see if it will all work according to his plan. We are I fear sleep-walking into the worst decision affecting all our lives since William The Conqueror said yes to a battle in Hastings.

Osama bin Laden is dead, Mr President

If Donald Trump wants to win the military vote he should stop going around hinting that he has sympathy for the suggestion being put about by conspiracy theorists that it wasn't Osama bin Laden who was killed by US Navy Seals in May 2011 but a double, and that the real one is alive and well and living in....wherever. Well of course it's total nonsense. So why does Trump think it's a good idea to peddle such rubbish during an election campaign? The answer is simple. It's because Barack Obama was president when the al-Qaeda founder was tracked down and killed and anything Obama did in his eight years presidency is open to doubt in Trump's view. So when some dodgy outfit called QAnon came up with the conspiracy idea in a tweet that the death of Osama bin Laden was just fake news, Trump leapt on it and retweeted it. Trump loves retweeting almost as much as he likes tweeting. He might have thought it was fun but actually it will seriously annoy the US military, particularly the Seal community. Like all special forces units around the world there is tremendous rivalry between the different organisations. In the US it's the US Navy Seals and the US Army Delta Force. The bin Laden operation was the biggest coup for the Seals and their reputation went sky high when details of the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan were made public. They won't take kindly to their president and commander-in-chief casting doubt on their heroism. Perhaps Trump didn't think of that when he did his retweet. So far only one of the Seal Team 6 unit which carried out the raid has spoken out. Unfortunately it's Robert O'Neill, the former Seal who claimed with huge publicity that he was the one who fired the shots that killed bin Laden as he emerged from his first floor bedroom. In my view O'Neill lost all credibility and respect when he effectively pushed the rest of the team to one side and boasted that he was the one to be praised for killing the most notorious terrorist leader. Talk about glory hunting. Then he further sullied his reputation by refusing to wear a mask on a passenger plane and making a total a..e of himself. Neverthless his condemnation of Trump for dismissing the bin Laden killing probably reflected the feelings of every member of Seal Team 6 and the majority of members of the US armed forces.

How could Trump win?

Let us start off with a question: Donald Trump will lose to Joe Biden unless....?? Unless what? First of all here are the things that will ensure Trump loses on November 3: he is way behind in almost every poll and in almost every battleground state. The people he could rely on in the 2016 election, such as white middle class women (for reasons I have never understood) are now changing their mind big time. White women appear to have had enough of Trump, probably because of his abrasive manner, his insults to all and sundry who don't like him and his various verbal attacks on individual female politicians. Trump has now turned to pleading with women to like him. That will turn them off more I suspect. Then there's the pandemic and the way he has handled it. Millions of American families will have been affected by the virus in one way or another, and the belief that Trump either hasn't really cared or has just mishandled the fightback won't have gone down well with the mums. And of course, the economy. It's not Trump's fault, he did take action to keep the economy from spiralling into recession and depression. But now after seven months of financial support and increasing the national debt to more than $3 trillion, Trumps seems to have gone off the boil. He wants to delay the next round of financial help until after the election. All of this is playing badly for the president and even he is now admitting that he could lose the election and talks of perhaps having to leave the country. I expect that was all about getting a sympathy vote but I doubt there's much sympathy around right now. So, here it is: what could happen in the next two weeks to change all this negativity and send Trump back into the White House for another four years. Number one, a disastrous event for Biden, perhaps a really really poor performance at the next TV debate, if it goes ahead (possible). Number two, a miracle happens with the economy and suddenly everything looks rosy (pretty unlikely). Number three, a fantastic and credible vaccine is unveiled and Americans by the million queue up for their jabs (remote possibility). Number four, Trump becomes a different person, promising to be loving and caring and to devote his life to his fellow Americans and to fight all kinds of racism and inequality and to ban white supremacy militia and prohibit the purchase of assault rifles (yeah, right). Number five, Trump makes public all of his tax returns (never going to happen). Number six, Biden falls ill with coronavirus and Kamala Harris has to spend the next two weeks in self-isolation (can't be discounted). Number seven, a regional crisis erupts and Trump takes such decisive action that it goes away on or just before election day (unlikely and not necessarily a boost for Trump). If none of these things happen, Trump is going to lose on November 3.

Trump and Pelosi no speaky

Here's an interesting fact that probably sums up Washington politics pretty well right now: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and third in line to the throne (White House) hasn't spoken to Donald Trump for a year. A whole year! Not since she stormed out of a meeting at the White House across the table from the president when she waved her finger at him. That's a helluva thing. Ok, she still talks to members of Trump's cabinet, especially Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury Secretary. But she doesn't see the point in talking to the president. They really hate each other that much? Yes, they do. So Trump isn't bothered. But it means the chances of getting a Save-America anti-Covid keep-everyone-in-jobs bill through Congress before the year is out is unlikely, to put it mildly. To get these special deals sorted out it needs the president and the Speaker to agree the details. But Trump hates the Pelosi package because it's full of stuff to help Democratic states and regions and won't play ball. And she says she won't agree to any Trump half measures and demands he signs up for the lot. He won't, so she won't and that's without even talking to each other. Washington politics can sometimes get so bogged down in personalities and selfish partisan wish-lists that it's a miracle anything gets done. Every president of course discovers that but Trump more than most. Far more.

US Supreme Court nominee cruises

Judge Amy Coney Barrett would under normal circumstances and in a different political climate be almost guaranteed to have her nomination for the US Supreme Court confirmed by the Senate. She has been supremely capable and articulate in her answers to the myriad of questions thrown at her by Democrat and Republican members of Congress. Had she faultered, blown her top, burst into tears, walked out of the room at any point in the gruelling two days of hearings her place on the Supreme Court might be in doubt. But, unlike the previous Trump nominee for the Supreme Court, Judge Brett Kavanaugh who did shout and cry and get very angry indeed, she cruised through the questions with a calm and intelligent manner. Very impressive and she will make a doubty Supreme Court judge. But of couse that's not the point. The Democrats are outraged that her nomination is being pushed through at frightening speed to give Trump an ace card in his election campaign pack, changing the political balance of the highest court in the land. She will still get confirmed because the Senate is Republican-controlled, and, constitutionally, no rules are being broken by her winning a seat on the Supreme Court bench within spitting distance of election day. It is true she did avoid anaswering certain questions but I think for legally sound reasons. Her more hostile interrogators demanded to know how she would rule on key questions such as Obamacare and whether Trump would be able to delay the election. Her clever answer was always that the law will decide and it's not for her to preempt any such decision by givng her views now. Very frustrating for the Democrats who wanted to prove that she is a Trump toady, but, as a federal judge, an appropriate answer in each case. From seeing her in action I don't think she will be a Trump toady if he wins reelection, nor will she be anti-Biden if Trump loses. She will come to her judgements based on the law. I think she was impressive and may surprise people once she is sitting on the Supreme Court bench.

Coronavirus rules the presidential election campaign

Never has there been such an extraordinary American election campaign. The coronavirus pandemic is ruling everything, from the economy to the voting itself and also to the campaign as it moves inexorably towards the November 3 date. Now it's the turn of Kamala Harris to be hidebound by the virus after two of her people have tested positive, including her communications director Liz Allen. Senator Harris has as a result cancelled all her travel plans. All we need now is for Joe Biden to catch the virus and he would be off the campaign trail until the election, unless he were to copy Trump of course. It does make you ask the question: how can the last three weeks of campaigning have any real affect on voters if the virus is disrupting everything? Trump is back on the campaign trail but can he really be totally free of a disease which has given so many people long-term health problems? Kamala Harris doesn't have to self-isolate apparently because she wasn't in close contact with her communications director or with the member of her flight crew who has also tested positive, in the two days leading up to their tests and afterwards. But she has clearly been advised to be ultra cautious. Being president, would-be president, vice president and would-be vice president means that they have each had to endure the unpleasant testing process pretty well every day for weeks. They must be sick of it. Most of us on this planet haven't been tested once and the sight of people having testing sticks shoved down their throats is enough to put anyone off. Even when November 3 eventually arrives, we all know that the election is not going to be a simple question of mathematics: counting the votes and working out the electoral college formulae. It's going to be all about interpretation, expostulation, denegration and may be the Supreme Coourt.

I fear we're heading for lockdown

Rishi Sunak, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, is desperately trying to avoid a second lockdown. How can he plan for a revived economy if Boris shuts it all down and sends everyone home? But every time Boris says he doesn't want to go down the total lockdown path, I can hear the voices shouting in his ear, "go lockdown, go lockdown, it's the only way". The statistics are getting worse by the day. Intensive care units are already getting filled with patients struggling to breathe. It's back to March and April. The second wave is here and winning. Yet Rishi Sunak has to be right. We cannot afford for the economy to be put on hold. It may be a bleak winter coming up but the country cannot, just cannot, come to a halt. The only way forward is for everyone to wear a mask in public all the time. It won't look nice but it's the only thing that makes sense. Too many people seem to think the virus is a joke or not something which is going to disrupt their lives. Wear masks but keep the economy going. It's the same in the US. The economy is slowly progressing and a lot of people are being sensible and wearing masks and keeping social distance. But the president of the United States, having recovered from a bout of coronavirus, is offering to give hugs and big kisses to all his supporters who come to his rallies, like he's the Messiah or something. If everyone behaves like Trump, here and over there, we will all be in lockdown before we know where we are. Then the economies will go down the tubes. Oh God!!

Will Trump supporters come out in force to vote?

The more the polls show Joe Biden is well ahead of Donald Trump, the more likely it is that any American who still has a thing about Trump will definitely make the effort to go out and vote. I guess the same could be said about Biden voters, except that if they read the polls and think he's going to win easily they might not bother to vote. Personally I can't understand why people eligible to vote don't do it automatically. I fail to comprehend the I-can't-be-bothered attitude. Especially in the US right now. If you love Trump, go vote for him, if you hate Trump, go vote for Biden. It's as simple as that. But both Republicans and Democrats are worried about people voting. Numbers will be crucial, obviously. Judging by the number of people who have voted already, the signs are pretty good that it will be a high turnout, perhaps higher than ever. Whether that's good news for Trump or good news for Biden is impossible to tell. But my gut feeling is that the bigger the turnout the better chance Biden has of winning because people who might not bother to vote might just do so this time in order to remove the incumbent president even if they don't much like Biden. What the Biden camp can't do is sleepwalk to November 3, thinking they have it all wrapped up. Nothing is wrapped up until it's wrapped up. Even with less than three weeks to go anything could happen which might change the mood and sway the voters. Some commentators are saying that if Trump manages to sign a dramatic extension to the New Start Treaty with the Russians, limiting nuclear weapons' arsenals, this might make the difference. It would show Trump on the world stage snatching a big moment to prove he can do deals. But I doubt it. Signing a nuclear-restraining deal with Putin isn't going to cut the mustard with wavering voters, especially when Trump made so much about needing to bring in China for the next Start negotiations. Beijing has said no. Also any deal between Trump and Putin so close to the election might just be seen by the cynics as a Moscow rabbit-out-of-the-hat ploy to get Trump reelected. I doubt American voters will fall for it. Bringing all US troops home from Afghanistan by Christmas is another possible coup for Trump. Buut again, that won't wash with the voters. It's obvious the military top dogs don't want that and will fight against it. The only ones who do want it, apart from Trump, are the Taliban who are grinning like Kabul cats at the thought of having every American soldier back in the US in the next ten weeks or so. Could there be a breakthrough with North Korea? Afraid not, Mr President. Kim Jong-un's show-off display with his mighty new intercontinental ballistic missile demonstrated that he is not in the mood to do Trump any favours. So, it's down to the voters and how many bother to vote.

Balancing act for Boris: Trump or Biden

With only three weeks to go before a monumental decision by the American people, politicians such as Boris Johnson have to start weighing the odds. If he is seen to be too pro-Trump and Biden wins, Biden ain't going to be too happy. If Boris starts to hedge his bets and talks glowingly about Biden as a possible future president of the United States, then he will seriously annoy Trump and make Biden think, "what a creep". Tough one this. Actually it's not as big a deal as some people are making out. All Boris has to do is say nothing about the upcoming US election on the grounds that it might be seen to be interfering - remember Obama's "Britain will go to the back of the trade queue if Brexit goes ahead". But at the same time the British embassy in Washington has to make sure it knows all the likely Cabinet members for a Biden presidency so that relationships are forged quietly and cunningly. It's bread and butter stuff for the embassy and for the relatively new ambassador Dame Karen Pierce. She's quite a sparky lady and I expect she has already made all the right cocktail party moves. But what she can't do is go around Washington saying she can't wait to deal with a Biden administration so that she can sleep at nights. The Trumpites will soon hear of that and she will be in as much doodoo as her predecessor Kim Darroch was when his communications back to London about the chaotic White House were leaked and he lost his job. The embassy will be reading the polls and sniffing the air as much as anyone else on the diplomatic circuit. Most of the ambassadors will be thinking a Biden administration would be easier to deal with but if they are sensible they will keep their thoughts to themselves. They have three weeks plus another two months to be diplomatic to Trump if he loses and three weeks plus another two months plus another four years if he wins.

Will it be a slam-dunk defeat for Trump or an extraordinary win?

I wouldn't normally regard Senator Ted Cruz as a politician with his finger on the pulse of the nation. But I reckon he has managed to summarise pretty well the voting dilemma now facing the United States. Basically in two separate interviews, the one contradicting the other, the Republican senator from Texas has made it clear, well not clear at all actualy, that either Trump could win a landslide and both the House and Senate become Republican-controlled, or Joe Biden could win a landslide and the Democrats take both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Well that's settled it then. Despite the contradiction I think he might be right. It could go either way, for sure, but the way things are in the US at the moment, it is just possible that either Trump or Biden could win big time. Never mind the double-digit lead for Biden at the moment. I bet there are a helluva lot of Americans who have yet to decide which way they are going to vote and they won't make up their minds until they walk into the voting booth or send off their ballot paper in the post. It's that sort of election. Cruz in an interview on Friday said he feared Trump and the Republican party could face a "bloodbath" in November, like the Republicans did in the mid-term elections 1974 after Watergate, losing the Senate and the House to the Democrats. If Americans felt optimistic about the future and Covid looked like being beaten, then Trump would win hugely, Cruz said. But if they felt angry and depressed Biden would win hugely. He rowed back in an interview on TV today, saying Trump would win the election, no problem. He must have had a phone call from the White House. But the deep divide in the country and the total opposite characters of the two presidential nominees make it more than possible that Cruz's first interview comments were right.

Covid statistics in the US are getting scary

The US is in a bad way. Whatever steps the authorities take, Covid-19 is marching on in its second wave and some experts are even predicting that by January 1 the death toll could go as high as 363,000. It's currently 213,000. The daily figure for new infection cases is 47,000. In the UK it has gone up to more than 14,000 new cases a day. What is going on? The medical experts said that after the first wave, everyone had learned so many lessons about the virus, how it worked, who it went for most and how to deal with it that a second winter wave wouldn't be as bad because the right steps would be taken to limit its progress. But this doesn't seem to be the case either in the US or in the UK. The numbers are rising and doctors are using the same language they used in March, warning of intensive care units being overwhelmed with patients. Surely, more than ever face masks have got to be the key. I don't want it but it has come to the point where masks should be worn at ALL times when outside amongst people. I'm not talking about shops etc where it's obligatory but just outside, walking along the street, brushing past people. Trump is still playing the dangerous game, setting up rallies where he knows a lot of the attendees won't be wearing masks because they take their example from the president who removes his mask as quickly and as soon as he can. He won't be rallying in a mask and he'll be addressing his supporters who also will spurn the wearing of masks because they don't want to be seen as whimps by their president. Then he's off to Florida for another rally. Again, probably few masks around. So the president of the United States and many of his supporters will become super-spreaders of the virus. I believe that if Trump declared that from now on he intended to wear a mask all the time until the virus has been beaten, his suporters and maybe everyone else in the country would follow suit. It's called setting the example. Boris and co here in the UK should do likewise. Never be seen in public without a mask. Then and only then will this pandemic start to get beaten.

Trump in White House isolation

There is a telling photograph in the Washington newspapers today which gives a pretty good idea what life is like in the White House right now for Donald Trump. A Marine with medals and a black mask over his face stands guard outside the glass-pannelled doors of the West Wing. Presumbaly Trump is in the room on the other side of the doors. He has lost more than 30 of his staff, all of whom tested positive with coronavirus, and the president himself, although he claims to be fighting fit and in campaigning mood, cannot be feeling anything other than fatigued and worried. It's far too soon to be instantly better after three days in Walter Reed and his insistence that he is back to normal if not in better health than before is surely more to do with the cocktail of drugs that have been fed into his body than to some miracle rebirth. Then there's Melania upstairs still in isolation. How she is we don't know but sure as hell she can't be visited by her husband while he retains the infection in his system. Same goes for his kids and his closest advisers. So pretty miserable really. Not the sort of atmosphere to try and fight for a job you desperately want for the next four years. Joe Biden is now so far ahead of Trump in almost every poll that even a confident bloke like Trump must be thinking that he actually might lose this battle. The Democrats certainly do. Biden advisers are rushing around drawing up short lists for a President Biden Cabinet. I think they think that it really is going to happen. Provided Biden doesn't do anything seriously stupid in the next three weeks. That's one thing that Trump will be praying for as he sits all alone in whatever room he is in the White House. A huge gaffe would help him a lot. But Biden's advisers will be watching and waiting to stamp it out as quicky as possible. If Biden wants to make sure he doesn't ruin the Democrats best chance of taking back the White House he should step as lightly as possible across the potential political pitfalls, or, better still, avoid them altogether.

Trump won't do virtual

It's not surprising that Donald Trump has poo-pooed the idea of going up against Joe Biden in a virtual debate with neither of them anywhere near each other and the moderator having the luxury of just switching him off when he or she sees fit. No way. That just ain't going to happen and Trumps says forget it. Actually having a virtual debate between the two would be pretty useless. Not that we want a repeat of the first slanging-match debate from Cleveland, Ohio. But at least we could see both men safely socially-distanced but on the same stage in the same city in the same country. A Zoom-style debate just wouldn't hold the drama, especially once the technical glitches start to unfold. Trump says he will hold a rally instead and Biden can chat to the nation from behind a plastic screen if he wants to. It's extraordinary how things can change so dramatically in such a short time. The newpapers are full of the new long-Covid disease that is affecting so many people, damaging their memory and equalibrium and heart rate. Yet here we have the president of the United States, after three days in hospital being stuffed with experimental drugs, literally raring to go back into the fight and feeling, so he says, very well indeed. And he wants every American suffering from Covid to get the same treatment he received, free of charge. Now there's a vote-winner I would have thought, provided people believe him. Has he really had the magic treatment that has rid his body of the virus? If so, then by all means let everyone else benefit. But meanwhile Trump wants to go campaigning like the pre-Covid days and to hell with the perspex and masks and virtual stuff. He's not a virtual president, right? As for the vice presidential debate, that really was a bit namby pamby. But then each participant, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, had a strict script to stick to, never mind the questions from the poor moderator. By comparison with the Trump/Biden shouting affair it was positively dull. But that is the role of the vice president, whether actual or would-be. They are not in charge of anything and have to do as their boss commands. The only thing out of order in last night's debate was the outrageous insolence of the fly that landed on Pence's immaculate hair and stayed put for a couple of minutes. Any fly landing on Trump's head of hair would have suffocated in the golden sprayed locks, but Pence, being vice president, has hair that looks more like a trimmed carpet.

No economic stimulus unless you reelect me, says Trump

Everything is political of course. That goes without saying. But Trump's latest move on the economy front is so political that it has left the Democrats gasping. What he has done is to say there will be no more negotiations with the Democrats (ie Nancy Pelosi, his bete noir) to stimulate the economy to keep pace with the rising pandemic until after the November 3 election. In other words, and here it is: Vote to reelect me in November and you will get your stimulus package, trillions of dollars to keep you all alive and in work. But until then you're on your own, and it's all the Democrats' fault. At this terrible time in world history millions and millions of people are depending on government help in order to keep businesses and jobs afloat. A few months or weeks of no help and it can have fatal consequences. So for Trump to say there may be no stimulus package until after the election is like saying to the American people, don't worry you will get your money but I need a favour in return: guarantee you will vote for me. That fiery lady Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Representative for New York's 14th congressional district, went ballistic. Trump appeared to relent a bit by saying he would approve certain stimulus cheques. Someone must have pointed out that rather than American citizens voting for him they might do the opposite in anger and desperation. Three and a half weeks left before the election and Trump is still convinced they he will be able to turn around what now seems almost Mission Impossible, replacing Joe Biden's double-digit poll lead with a grand slam Republican victory. I'm not saying it won't happen but if the president plays politics with a stimulus package that everyone in the nation needs right now, not in four weeks time, I would say he's going down the wrong path to victory.

Trump's bravado is understandable but dangerous

From the moment this coronavirus pandemic hit the world, Donald Trump adopted what can only be called a Lone Ranger take-em-all-on approach. He refused to be cowed by the virus. America is great, America doesn't get beaten by a virus sent by the Chinese. And above all the president of the United States will lead the charge to prove that all this fuss has to be pushed to one side in the hell-for-leather plan to make America great again, the greatest power on Earth. That's the Trump philosophy in a nutshell when it comes to Covid-19. Slowly, bit by bit he has been forced to acknowledge that the pandemic was actually pretty serious but the administration was doing everything in its power to meet the challenge. Now here we are, seven or eight months later and there are 210,000 Americans dead from the virus and the president himself sick with the virus but claiming that he's fine and dandy and ready to be reelected. All this bravado from Walter Reed medical centre is par for the course. In his view he cannot under any circumstances give the impression that the virus is so serious that it might even incapacitate him and prevent him from being the president. Never mind the appalling thought (his thinking) of allowing someone else to take over even for a few days, or hours while he recovers. No, sir. This president is made of better stuff, he will survive, he will endure, he will fight, he WILL be president for years to come. I actually can understand all that. When you are a big man physically, like Trump, and you depend for your very existence on a sort of super omniscient confidence, as he does, it would be fatal to even hint that he might be a touch fragile right now. Can you ever imagine Trump telling the nation: "Sorry, folks, this virus has got to me, I feel terrible, I'm going to take to my bed for several weeks and let Mike Pence take over the reins for a bit." No, of couse not. His supporters believe he is immortal. There was some Trump supporter sounding off outside Walter Reed yesterday, saying he would be prepared to die for the president. I noticed the TV cameraman never actually focused on or interviewed the Trump fan but his voice was so loud the camera crew couldn't shut him out. This is what Trump is up against. He has created this godlike persona and thus can never admit to weakness. But how dangerous is this? Not just for him but for his supporters and for the nation as a whole. He says, "don't be afraid of the virus, look at me I've had it and I'm feeling better than I have for 20 years. It's great!" Sorry, Mr President, that may well be fine for you and you may be trying to stir the nation to be super immortals but for lesser folk life is still scary and uncertain and unpredictable, and for the families of 210,000 dead Covid victims, bravado from the Top Man just doesn't cut it.

That masked wave from Trump. Sane or insane?

The masked wave from the president of the United States inside his bullet-proof, bomb-proof, chemical weapons attack-proof, tank shell-proof, rocket-propelled grenade-proof but NOT Covid-proof limousine could become the defining image of the drama that has hit and overwhelmed the Washington Establishment following Trump testing positive for coronavirus and his swift departure by helicopter to Walter Reed medical centre in Bethesda. Of course we know why he did it. Having being very much aware of the crowds of supporters hanging around outside the hospital, he will have grabbed his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, spotted later with his face in his hands, and ordered him to get his car out front so he could pay due respect to the lovely fans. His Secret Service detail will have gone spare. "No, Mr President, please Mr President, not a sensible idea, we'll take the bullet for you but not Covid. Think of your poor driver, Fred, he has a wife and 14 kids." Then there were the doctors who must surely have advised, "It's really not recommended, Mr President. On medical grounds we cannot advise it." But the joy of being president is that you can overrule everyone. Provided he is not actually putting himself in harm's way in which case the Secret Service could then legitimately and constitutionally veto, what he says has to be done has to be done. Unless it can be shown that he is mentally incapacitated. But if that was the case we would be in a totally different ball game altogether. So out he goes all huddled up by the window of his mighty armoured vehicle and does his waving routine much to the delight of his supporters. Of course the message he wanted to convey was that he was tickety-boo and absolutely fine and pretty well Covid-free. But he is not Covid-free. He is so stuffed with anti-Covid treatment drugs it's surprising he can get out of bed. If any of his Secret Service detail or the driver go down with the virus after his little jaunt, then the repercussions will be huge. It was a gamble not just for him but for everyone who went with him. No wonder one of the doctors not dealing with Trump was quoted as saying it was "insanity". So the answer to the headline above is: it was insane. But not remotely surprising.

Trump could be out of the woods

Doctors are generally cautious individuals, and Donald Trump's doctors have been cautious from the beginning while trying to reassure the American public that their president is doing well. Today there seems to be a genuine note of optimism that things are looking so good that he might even leave the Walter Reed medical centre tomorrow. Mark Meadows, White House chief of staff who has played a somewhat Machiavellian role in this whole drama, dismissed the multitude of reports in newspapers and on TV that he would have to hand over power to Mike Pence. Meadows said there was never any question of Trump handing over power to anyone. I assume he meant now rather than after the November 3 election. Meadows was the one who appeared to dispute the personal presidential doctor's medical bulletin that Trump was doing fine. Meadows told reporters in what was supposed to be an "unofficial source" briefing that Trump had actually been very ill with a rapid drop in his blood/oxygen level. It now seems that that was correct because the doctor, Sean Conley, admitted in a question and answer session outside Walter Reed today that the president had had a problem with the so-called blood saturation level until it was corrected. Anyway, Trump's health crisis could be over quicker than anticipated, although this is what happened to Boris. All the signs looked good until he suddenly deteriorated and was put on oxygen for several days. Boris has never really been his true bouncy self ever since. Anyway, if we are to believe Trump's medical team, the president will soon be back campaigning. But presumably not at mass rallies with no one wearing masks. Surely those days are over. The next four weeks before the election are going to be more subdued. Right now, according to the latest poll, Biden is ten points ahead of Trump. That's a big margin. It's going to be fascinating to see how a recovering Trump faces up to that challege and tries to reverse it. It may be too late.

How ill is Trump?

Today has seen a mass of questions about Trump's health. The overall verdict from his personal doctor is that he is doing well and all his vital organs are functioning appropriately. But for obvious reasons it's in the country's interest for a positive spin to be put on the president's health. There were suggestions that he had needed an infusion of oxygen but then it was denied. He had not been put on oxygen. In Covid cases that include trouble with breathing it is quite normal for a patient to be fed oxygen. This is not the same as being put on a ventilator. That is a much more serious treatment. Boris Johnson's health deteriorated when he was taken to hospital after catching coronavirus annd was put on oxygen. The doctors at Walter Reed medical centre in Bethesda on the outskirts of Washington are giving so much to Trump right now that it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they decided, as a precaution, to feed him oxygen. It won't do him any harm. As it is they are stuffing him with every imaginable anti-virus drug, some of them still experimental which I would have thought has its risks. They have mentioned Remdesivir, another drug produced by the company Regeneron, zinc, aspirin and Vitamin D. All of which will make him even more lethargic. I'm sure they know what they're doing. Precisely when Trump got the virus is still not clear. What is clear is that a lot of people who have spent close time with the president in recent days are going down with the virus. None of them were wearing masks. Dr Anthony Fauci, the chief virus expert for the White House, will be going mad. He has been trying to get everyone to wear masks for months. Especially Trump. The one big surprise at the moment is that Trump has gone quiet. No tweeting, apart from one 20 minutes ago praising the dpctors and nurses. Have the doctors restricted his use of his phone to keep his heartbeat level? A silent Trump is not a good sign of his state of health. November 3 is exactly one month away!

Two of the five weeks left before November 3 Trump will be in self-isolation

These are truly unprecedented times. The president of the United States in quarantine for coronavirus. Even his worst enemy would wish him well and a full recovery if he actually goes down with the virus symptoms. It's crucial for a number of stupendously important reasons. The November presidential election has to be seen in the US and around the world as a fair and fully democratic event. Whoever wins, wins but in the right way and in accordance wiith the US constitution. Trump will continue to govern and campaign from inside the White House and will no doubt, as Boris Johnson did, get a sympathy vote as a consequence. But it would be bad for the democratic process if the next two TV debates are cancelled. OK the first one was disgraceful but I can't believe that either Trump or Biden believe it would be a good idea to repeat the slanging match in the next two debates. They need to be seen to be responsible grown-ups who can speek their minds without showing disrespect for each other. Trump interrupted Biden on far more occasions but Biden resorted to abuse just as much as Trump did. The pandemic has now taken a hold of the White House which is both alarming and frightening. All sorts of questions have yet to be answered. But most importantly Trump and his wife need to come out of the quarantine healthy and virus-free so that the election can go ahead as required by the constitution. And if he loses, he has to leave the White House as the rules dictate and allow Biden to become president on January 20 2021.

Trump says Joe Biden is too weak to run the country

The first presidential TV debate between Trump and Biden was neither presidential nor entertaining nor watchable nor, hopefully, repeatable in the planned next two confrontations. They say the rules are going to be changed, but unless the moderator is allowed to put sticking plaster over Trump's mouth I can't see how a rule change will stop Trump from interrupting when and how he likes. Still, my theme for today is not the disgraceful set-to between the two men hoping to lead the US in the next four years but Trump's comment at a rally in Minnesota the following day in front of adoring, yes adoring, supporters. He said Joe Biden was too weak to be leader of the United States. His adoring crowd seemed to share his view. The fact is that Biden does not come across as a toughie. He is not a brawler like Trump, he's not rude and bad-mouthing. His strongest line when trying to get a word in edgeways during the TV debate was:"Shut up man." But it was said in an exasperated way, not an angry way. He didn't shout it. He just said it in a slightly diffident way. It was more of an appeal to the moderator than a direct order to the president to shut his mouth. Perhaps if he had bellowed "Shut the f... up" he might have got somewhere. But this is Joe Biden, Mr Decent Guy. So is Trump right? Is Biden just too nice and weak to lead the United States of America? Some author once wrote that to be president of the USA you have to look like the president of the USA. I don't think there's a stereotype persona for the job but I think there is something in that. If you don't look the part in America, you won't be any good. It's more Hollywood than politics. But this is America. It's why Al Gore never made it and Ros Perot and Spirow Agnew for heaven's sake. Trump's supporters think he looks the part, big fella, long arms down by his side, oversized suit, big mouth, big hairstyle, orange face, all the ingredients you need to stand head and shoulders above everyone else. Biden, by contrast, looks and sounds mild. He couldn't drown out Trump on Tuesday night because Trump was louder and more insulting and more in everyone's face, especially Biden's. According to Trump you can't run the most powerful nation on Earth by sounding meek and mild. Oh my God, he might be right!