Opinion | After a divisive election, will the US be able to come back together again?

Two weeks before the US presidential election on November 5, we have Kamala Harris, who took over the Democratic ticket from President Joe Biden, up against Republican contender Donald Trump, running for the third time.

This presidential campaign has not been the norm, especially when we consider the extraordinary concerns over the sitting president’s faculties and the assassination attempts on Trump. The criticality of this election lies not in who wins, but in how the loser’s supporters would react. As the United States crumbles internally and declines globally, the last thing it can afford is to increase the political chasm.

From our vantage point in Australia, the US presidential election is a spectacle unrivalled in global politics. It has all one can expect: sex scandals, ad hominem attacks, passionate supporters and clearly biased media coverage, just to name a few. And that is even before a candidate for each party has been chosen.

Once there are two final two contenders, they are squared off against each other, much like in a boxing match. This election has seen one candidate trying to hold the moral high ground, and the other not attempting to have one at all.

Today’s political landscape is a far cry from when Republican candidate John McCain in 2008 corrected a woman during a Minnesota rally after she referred to Barack Obama, who would go on to win the presidency, as an “Arab”. McCain, even in the face of a booing crowd, called him a “decent” man. One cannot imagine that happening today.