As the US election draws closer the country appears more divided than the flat pack desk I didn't get around to doing this weekend. It's made a number of commentators ask: what would Abraham Lincoln or George Washington would be doing if they were alive today? To which the obvious answer is scratching at the inside of the coffin as shouting so that someone can let them out. And Lincoln might be looking up that play on Wikipedia to see how it ended seeing as he missed the last 20 minutes.

But yes it's 2 months until election day as we move into autumn or as they call it in America, the "fall" which brings to mind other falls like the fall of Saigon, the fall of the Roman Empire, or that time that Neil Kinnock fell over on a beach because just like Kinnock the US left wing politicians have been trying incredibly hard make themselves seem as unelectable as possible over the past couple weeks. As an analogy, try to imagine the fictional kingdom run by Babar the Elephant and now try to imagine the hunter running for political office in it, possibly with a zookeeper as running mate. That is roughly what you have as left wing mayors champion the abolition of the police and urge you to vote for Joe Biden to speed that process up. Democratic strongholds like Los Angeles and New York are now deserted downtown and regularly witness to scenes reminiscent of the 3rd world and yet for many that is portrayed as a good thing with references being made to South Africa and the end of minority white rule as they actively fan the flames of a race war that frankly matters very little to anyone who doesn't have a financial stake in it. When Democrats say that the country needs immigrants to do the things ordinary Americans won’t it makes you wonder "like what, voting Democrat?"

All the while Joe Biden has been silent on the topic of the riots and so uninspiring that you half wonder whether making him the front-runner was part of a "make a wish event" like when they let a terminally ill patient have lunch with their favourite sporting hero. It's worth remembering that Joe only got the position because the party stooges wouldn't allow the role to go to Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton wouldn't let Elizabeth Warren beat her in the first female president competition. The somewhat confusing (yet inevitable way) the vote was rigged meant that the party activists voted for competence and charisma, yet were left with Jo Biden and for many it's like if you ordered a double bed and the company delivered you a double bass. Except that basses are associated with jazz and cool whereas Joe seems like the guy who'd go to a concert and then complain afterwards that the orchestra was a cover band. Who knows, maybe he's been around long enough to have seen Mozart playing a live gig back in the day. Either way, we currently have 9 weeks to go until we can see which of the two ld white men, both with accusations of impropriety, both running of a campaign on identity politics, gets to live in the White house next year. And possibly a 3 further subsequent years depending on how things go!