Winners deserve everything, losers deserve nothing - no humane consideration, and in extreme cases no justice or mercy.

Individual Americans may or may not operate like this, but this morality is absolutely endemic in politics, finance, law, the medical industry, and even in science and academia.

It's even visible on the left. Bill Clinton and Obama both have it, but cover it up by appearing smart and personable in public - even though mostly they operate out of self-interest in private.

Hilary Clinton lost because she couldn't hide it, and there are various democratic creatures - like Feinstein - who don't even try to disguise it.

The next generation - AOC, etc - don't seem quite so badly infected by it, but it's unlikely they don't have it at all.

So Trump was entirely inevitable. But then in many ways he's just a vastly dumber version of Nixon, who personified a previous generation of it.

The last vaguely decent president was Carter, and it's telling that he's considered a weak failure.

What has puzzled me most about this campaign is how stable it has been, despite Covid-19 and the train wreck which has been Trump's Presidency and campaign. He has broken every rule in the book and it has hardly effected his numbers.

It has affected his numbers though?  Not as much as you might think, but it has.

He briefly closed to about a 4-point race in March/April following the rally-round effects of the impeachment trial and the initial Covid response with the shutdowns and CARES Act.

Then, being Trump, he got bored and mad -- over GDP, over Fauci getting better ratings, who knows? -- and began stepping on rakes.  The Covid response went to hell, and he completely botched the response to George Floyd's death, and Biden's lead blew up to a 9- or 10-point affair in summer.

At that point, Biden began hitting the 50s.  Biden's been in the 50s uninterrupted for about five months, which I believe is unprecedented.

The gap then closed to about 7 as the protests calmed down and the conventions went on.

Then Biden clowned him in the debate and he stepped on a few more rakes, and the lead expanded again.  And that's where we are now.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

Deep down I wonder is there something deeply authoritarian, misogynistic, racist, narcissistic, and envious in the US psyche, which values material self-aggrandisement above all else and cares little about the damage it does to others.

got it in one.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

The EU doesn't determine residency rules. Ask your local embassy. I'm not aware of much in the way of restrictions on US citizens provided you can support yourself.

Index of Frank's Diaries