Over the summer of 2024, I found myself sucked into the whirlwind of the upcoming US elections, mostly consisting of campaigns, polls, and shrill newscasters. Nevertheless, what I had first considered to be entertainment* soon turned into a real obsession with the absurdity of the whole menage.

So I did a little experiment with Youtube. I cleared my watch history and signed out, forcing the algorithm to treat me like a new user and become hypersensitive to my interests. After a few searches about Trump’s latest antics, I began to receive all sorts of recommendations from varying US News Channels, from Fox News to CNN. Youtube also threw in a handful of smug influencers who had no business being so insufferable to keep my limited attention span from exhausting itself. Funnily enough, the pieces of information I was getting were strikingly different depending on the source. Since the algorithm was unsure of my political preferences, it would recommend anything from unapologetic bigotry to extreme wokeness. 

I liked to watch how the exact same clip of a politician was interpreted differently according to the News Channel. Fox News, for instance, might congratulate Trump for questioning his opponent’s race on NABJ, while CNN would explode. 

My wakeup call came when I realised that these are the people leading the ‘Free World’. Isn’t the US meant to be the utmost example of democracy? It seems however, that in the last 10 years, the country’s political system has devolved into a rabid dog fight, with only one concern in mind: tear the other party to shreds. You can’t pay for groceries because of rapid inflation? Never mind that, let’s talk about how stupid my opponent is. 

I first became aware of the political situation in the US (which one kind Youtube commentator referred to as a ‘comedy club’) through Joe Biden’s astonishing cognitive breakdown in the Presidential Debate. The octogenarian could barely string a sentence together, while his junior of 5 years seemed to delight in comparing their golfing abilities. For comparison, I then watched the presidential debate of 2012, Romney versus Obama. The difference was stunning. They shook hands (actually shook hands), complimented each other and, glory be, were intelligible. As one commentator reflected, “The degradation of articulation and civility from 2012 to 2024 is truly shocking”. To me, things indicated that unless Biden dropped out, voters would be too depressed to vote for either and thus Trump would win through the small percentage of extremists determined enough to fill out the ballot. 

As it turns out, he did drop out, and Trump’s campaign, which mostly consisted of laughing at Biden’s age, had the tables turned on it as Kamala gathered the support of the majority of the democratic party. ‘Biden’s biggest failures’ had suddenly turned to ‘Trump’s funniest gaffes’. The Democratic party isn’t exactly a shining beacon of civility either. It doesn’t really seem to matter what Donald Trump, or his VP, J.D Vance says: as long as they say something, it has to be wrong. 

The problem seems to be larger than just Biden versus Trump, or  Harris versus Trump. After the switch, I realised that things hadn’t really changed. Sure, democrats were slightly revitalised by a fresh face, but all of the bad rep and slander associated with Biden  just moved on to her. Perhaps the issue isn’t really whether the Republican Party or the Democratic Party and their news outlets hate the opposing candidate, but lies in the fact that they hate each other. 

They don’t care if the opposing candidate is a racist, or has embezzled government funds, or is responsible for an economic crisis. It doesn’t matter how much the ‘other side’ tries to convince you - you’d rather vote for a dead chicken than that man or woman. 

As many people lost in the depths of Youtube’s comment section reflect, Americans should not be choosing the lesser of two evils. What happened to truth? What happened to respect? And what happened to good?

Oh and, what happened to my cat? From what Trump seems to believe, immigrants probably ate it. 

*I also soon remembered how much hangs on who wins these elections and sobered up.