Election Countdown: America on the Edge

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BBC Radio 4 - Election Countdown: America on the Edge

America on the edge: is this the most divisive presidential election ever?

With a year to go to the American presidential election,  James Naughtie looks at the bitter ideological battle in a country more divided than at any time in the modern era.

The rise of Donald Trump changed American politics, and his influence has lasted despite his defeat in 2020. Running as outsider he is tilting at a political and governmental Establishment in the language of battle, as if the future of America were at stake.  And that is precisely what his opponents say, too: that another Trump term would be a disaster.
 
James Naughtie gets behind the rhetoric of the campaign to explore the arguments about a democracy - the great American experiment - that both sides say is now itself on the ballot. 

Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton,  predicts disaster if he were to win again; but his agitator-in-chief Steve Bannon says that nothing less than a revolution from his 'populist nationalist' movement will save the country. These are arguments from both on the Right and among liberals that stir memories of the great American disruption of the 19th century, the Civil War. Although few would predict an outcome on that scale, there is a steep rise in violence across the political divide, and the programme hears of alarm about how violent rhetoric is having consequences in the streets. 

Trump himself is facing four criminal trials, and the severe financial consequences of a fraud judgement in New York, yet seems on course to claim the Republican nomination for president for the third time. If he were convicted of any of the 91 charges he faces before the election, would he still run? And if he did, how would American voters react to the prospect they never faced before, of a president judged to be a criminal?
 
Election day is a year away on November 5th. The atmosphere is already hot and raw, and in this programme we hear how, on both sides, it's expected to become even more fevered before the first votes are cast. Already, it's a contest for the presidency like we've never seen before. 

Reporter: James Naughtie
Producer: Paul Grant
Editor: Clare Fordham
Technical producer: Richard Hannaford
Production co-ordinator: Ellie Dover

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