The American presidential election shambles forth

Back in 2020 I shared this quote to describe the time:

The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.

It’s from Antonio Gramsci, a fascinating Italian Marxist in the 1920s and 30s. He’s a thinker I turn to a lot. When I cited it I was thinking of Trump’s defeat of Clinton that November. (Check my blog if you want more.) The line has returned to me frequently since, as I follow politics in Europe and the US.

June’s Biden-Trump debate stamped it on my brain again.

The event was a disaster — well, not for Trump. He did all right for his own strategy and in his own style, as far as we can tell. He pasted Biden very clearly and effectively, mostly sticking to his talking points, then reaching in improvisation — again, his trademark style. He lied frequently, which is also his usual schtick. He actually restrained himself for the first half.As a performance he did all right.

In contrast, the night was a shambles for Biden, gutting his campaign and threatening the remainder of his presidency.* (Please, please don’t say “Biden won on points” or “the transcript was better than the video”. This was a television debate and America has known exactly what that…