Today we are dealing with the approaching US elections and the beginning Corona shutdown in Germany.
The decision of the year
This week, on Tuesday, Americans have a choice between a democracy destroyer and a democracy keeper.
All of us,
the whole world, will be shaped by the outcome of this election
.
We cannot help.
It still sounds surreal: The country that brought democracy to us a generation ago is now seriously grappling with this alternative: destroyer Donald Trump against keeper Joe Biden.
The fact that Trump even has a realistic chance of staying in office still eludes
political rationality,
despite so many illuminating explanations
.
And the chance is always realistic.
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Trump in North Carolina on November 1st
Photo: Chris Carlson / AP
The clear lead in the polls that Biden can claim nationwide and in important swing states two days before the election is a
purely virtual lead
.
According to the latest New York Times survey, Biden is ahead of Trump in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida and Arizona, all four of which Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, paving the way for him to win.
Are they taking him to the Losing Street now?
But would he even accept defeat?
At the weekend, the president tried to sow distrust with regard to the election process and the postal votes: "The whole world and our country will wait and wait and wait to find out who has won, you will wait for weeks."
November 3rd will come and go and no one will know: "And you will have
chaotic confusion
in our country."
In the meantime, more than 90 million Americans have cast their votes - that is two thirds of the total number of votes in 2016. A
record turnout
is to be expected.
Although a record is relative: If 65 percent of the electorate voted, that would be a record for US standards.
Presidential elections in the USA: another four years of Trump?
Will Trump stay if Biden comes?
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Joe Biden in Philadelphia on November 1st
Photo: Andrew Harnik / dpa
If
Joe Biden
wins, he will not simply be able to put the country back on track.
Even if he promises that and sees Trump only as a aberration of history.
In fact, Biden would not be able to join where Barack Obama left off four years ago - he
would have to join Trump
.
That's why I would like to recommend our current SPIEGEL cover story to you: What remains of Trump - even if he has to go.
Trump is not the only cause of the division of the nation, but the
symptom of a deep-reaching crisis
that will not go away when Trump goes away.
And there's something else: we humans tend to get used to everything.
This ensures our survival, but it also sometimes blinds us.
We got used to Trump
, his hatred, his stupidity, his racism.
The great US storyteller Philip Roth wrote of the "terror of the unforeseen" in his book "Conspiracy Against America", which imagines a presidency of the aviator and Nazi Charles Lindbergh in the 1940s.
In historical retrospect, such unforeseen events would unfortunately be presented as inevitable, one event follows another chronologically.
In other words: There is a tendency to rationalize the fractions away.
A disaster, writes Roth, then simply becomes a story.
We should never forget the Trump disaster.
Hate, culture clash, discord: what remains of Trump - even if he has to go
Closed society
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Blocking sign in front of the Kiel sports field: The partial lockdown in Germany begins today
Photo: Frank Molter / dpa
As of today, we are all faced with major small-scale decisions in our country every day: The second shutdown in the fight against the coronavirus begins and it is
expected to
apply
until the end of the month
.
How many will stick to it and how resolutely?
And how big will the minority still be in the future who have gambled away some of the initial successes with their unsolidary behavior in recent months?
While the first wave in spring was still a natural disaster to which society, science and politics had to find (new) answers, the second wave is primarily
man-made
.
Because we knew what to do and what not to do.
This last weekend before the shutdown was not only encouraging.
At my house entrance, for example, there was a note from a club: They want to party again and apologize for the volume.
Volume is probably the least of our problems.
Hit one more before we all get back in there.
When every day counts, as the saying goes, that's a very stupid strategy.
And it illustrates again that our current problem is man-made.
The bigger the self, the bigger the crisis.
Except for schools and daycare centers as well as supermarkets and shops (and church services, of all things), everything is now being shut down again.
Because the regionally specific measures of the past few weeks did not take effect, there is only hope for this more general, so-called
breakwater model
.
Is that fair?
No it is not.
It can't be at all.
Because now committed entrepreneurs, artists and restaurant owners are also paying the bill for the fact that we all did not manage it together.
You can read the details of the individual measures here.
I would also like to take this
opportunity
to recommend
an exciting
SPIEGEL book project
to you: Today is
"Lockdown"
- 21 authors from various departments retold and analyzed the political crisis fight in the first phase, such as tangible conflicts between the ministries - and At the end the question was asked what politics, what we as a society can learn from it for the future and what that means with a view to the rolling second wave.
Loser of the day ...
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"Permanent representation" in Berlin (archive picture)
Photo: Britta Pedersen / dpa
... is the
StäV
.
Because of the Corona shutdown, the Berlin Kölsch pub "Stestandung" near the Friedrichstrasse station does not want to serve Angela Merkel, Olaf Scholz, the governing mayor Michael Müller, Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder and others (anymore). House ban for politicians First of all, of course, difficult anyway under shutdown conditions; secondly, it is not known whether Merkel and Co. had even planned a visit to the location in the near or distant future and thirdly, it is for a shop that advertises that now and then political celebrities stopping by may not be as effective as banning political celebrities.
The latest news from the night
Spahn swears Germans to "months of restrictions":
The measures will take effect from Monday - and they are significant: Before the new escalation in the fight against the virus, the Minister of Health finds clear words: According to Jens Spahn, the country is facing a hard time
Trump supporters ram Biden's campaign vehicle - FBI investigates:
Dangerous situation in Texas: Donald Trump fans have attacked the column of challenger Joe Biden.
Praise and ridicule came from the White House - the federal police got involved
"Nobody is planning anything at the moment":
Anne Will asks about the sense and nonsense of the restrictions in the second lockdown.
Markus Söder apologizes in advance - and trumpeter Till Brönner worries about the starving cultural industry
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
SPIEGEL editorial on the climate crisis: Who are the real culprits
Political chaos in Algeria: "This new regime will make us all beggars"
Posse about a relic of German contemporary history: what to do with the Landshut?
Racism allegations against coffee roasting: the black man has to go
I wish you a good start to the week.
Your Sebastian Fischer