Cliffhanger!

By Tuesday I usually know what I am going to be posting on my blog Sunday.

Come Wednesday I start writing, halfheartedly; I know I’ve got the rest of the week ahead. Friday I try to get it done and by Saturday I realize the whole thing is probably humbug and following Stephen King’s priceless piece of advice for writers (“On Writing”) I throw out 80%.

So a hell of frantically rewriting goes into motion and with luck and some trepidation by midnight it is ready to upload.

This week was different.

I had a tidy, albeit not too fascinating subject (you don’t hit a home run each week, far from it) titled “Refund”. Spoiler Alert: It has to do with how we revise history, art and culture; told you, fascinating.

Then Election Day falls on last Tuesday November 3 –it doesn’t help that I am also travelling back home on the same day. I start to write that afternoon with less moxie than usual and by Wednesday morning I say: Fergettit. This is not going to fly and stay glued to the TV set for the next five days.

It is now Saturday morning and as I write we still don’t know who will be the next President of the United States; although we have a pretty good idea who will not.

The upside of this harrowing week has been that we put Covid 19 on the backburner and although our fears have not disappeared they have shifted for a little while, which is a relief.

This will be a short column, the shortest probably since I started writing some 24 years ago, which is not a bad thing. Since I now own my own space and can go longer if I so choose I have become more prolific, yet probably not gotten any better. I still believe short is good.

What a week, people!

You can call it anything you want but for sheer angst few things equal this rollercoaster race to the White House. I have woken every day at 3.45 am lunged for the phone and nervously checked the numbers that seem to move at a snail’s pace.

We all know more about Pennsylvania (PA) Georgia (GA) Arizona (AZ) and Nevada (NV) and the number of votes needed to get over the top than we ever needed to know.

Today it looks like the guy to come away the winner will be Joe Biden. This comes as horrible news for under half of the US and as great news to almost the entire rest of the world.

Why is this?

At the end of the day Trump managed to alienate almost everyone with his bullying attitude and at the same time become a figure of ridicule. Tough to do both but he did it (the inspired description made by Anderson Cooper after Trump’s toe-curling-rambling, disoriented, vague and mendacious statement Thursday night in the WH when he compared him to “an obese turtle on his back” will forever haunt the way I'll remember him).

We don’t expect a lot of any politician, but we do expect some basic qualities in every man and every woman, and respect is one of them. Trump gave us none. He gets none in return.