The closer the election approaches, the more hysterical the mood in America's capital becomes.
As I write these lines, I am sitting in the SPIEGEL Washington office, which is located in the National Press Building, just a few steps from the White House.
The entrance door to the building is - like the entire city center - barricaded with plywood.
Only the operators of the "Hamilton" restaurant, which is something like the canteen of political Washington, have stayed cool.
While almost all of the rest of Downtown DC prepares for civil war-like scenes, the store on 14th Street continues unmoved to serve its crab crakes, which you eat while looking through the huge windows at the streets of Washington.
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Doing business in DC: fear of riot
Photo: DANIEL SLIM / AFP
One would wish everyone had such strong nerves.
What is driving all of Washington crazy right now is the fact that the polls can be interpreted in all directions.
"Biden is ahead in all national surveys!" Say the optimists.
"But in the end it all depends on Pennsylvania, and it's tight there!" The fearful reply.
"The high turnout will bring Biden a landslide victory!" Say the optimists.
"But in South Florida it is the Trump supporters who flock to the ballot box!" Say the fearful.
"2016 Trauma" is the name of the phenomenon that not only political nerds in Washington suffer from.
Because before the last presidential election, almost all observers assumed that Hillary would win, the nerves are now on edge.
At the weekend I met my neighbor on the street, a successful cardiologist with Indian roots.
He is so afraid of a Trump election victory that he volunteered to phone the Democrats to convince voters in the swing states of Joe Biden.
I wanted to cheer him up by saying that the high turnout was a good sign for the Democrats.
He then sent me the link to a Politico interview in which two opinion polls are asked who predicted a triumph for Trump in 2016 and who now believe again that it is more likely that Trump will win.
The truth is, nobody knows how the election will end.
Biden's chances of winning are better than Hillary Clinton's in 2016. But with a lot of luck Trump can defend the states he won in 2016;
in which case he can afford to lose Pennsylvania and he would still be president.
That is probably not - it is possible.
Only one thing is certain at the moment: after the election there will be enough wise guys who will claim that it was clear that it had to happen in the same way.
The stories of the day
I can recommend these reports from my colleagues today:
Moderator Zamperoni on the division in the USA: "The rifts are often insurmountable"
Presidency balance sheet: what happened to Trump's promises?
Countdown to the US election: "The mother of all swing states"
White House and Congress: The most expensive election campaign in history
Blacks ahead of the US election: "No candidate has done enough to combat racism"
Have a nice day!
Sincerely,
René Pfister