But they should, and for all the wrong reasons. Anyone who has covered a few of them knows they are very different this year. The climate is dark in America. There is a sense of dread about the future. And if Americans are afraid, so should we. The reverse Vegas rule applies here. What happens in America doesn’t stay in America. Those who thought the Donald Trump years were an aberration are in for a shock. See the candidates. Nearly 300 were endorsed by Mr. Trump. Two hundred of them have spread the undemocratic lie that he won the last election or that the results were seriously flawed. Some are Q Anon supporters to boot, subscribed to a movement that believes a group of pedophiles runs the US government. Donald Trump is expected to announce his candidacy soon after these midterms. Looking at the polls, his second coming is looking more and more likely, with all that means for the world we live in. An atmosphere of fear The atmosphere on the campaign trail is one of fear, among voters who tell you that this great country, an ally, and an inspiration to the entire free world is, to put it bluntly, on the brink. It’s not just the fear of the other side winning. It’s more powerful, more visceral than that. Democrats are terrified that US democracy is about to be subverted. People who claim that the electoral system is rigged are running for key positions that will give them power in that system. And Democrats fear they will use that power next time to swing votes in their favor. A president who we now know seriously considered hijacking voting machines and tried to intimidate officials to overturn the outcome of a free and fair election may be the frontrunner to win the White House again next time. Think about it. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 2:53 Could the ‘red wave’ hit New York? America is falling apart If he fails to do it fairly next time, he will now have allies in governors or state officials who could help him do it in other ways if they win as seems likely in this week’s polls. But Republican voters are just as passionate about their fear that the country is being led in the wrong direction by elites who don’t know how much the average American is hurting. Voters of all stripes fear recession, inflation, crime and rising costs and see a government not doing enough to help. But fear is more existential than that. America, the country and the idea, voters will tell you, is under threat and falling apart. Americans have stopped doing what they have always done best, talking to themselves and listening. They have retreated into opposing camps, losing themselves in echo chambers left and right. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 8:20 How a lie consumed a nation “It’s on the brink of destruction” A mother in a town in New York state summed it up this way: “It’s divided and angry and hostile and corrupt, and it’s on the brink of destruction, I think. “I think it’s incredibly discouraging. People believe what they want to believe and they don’t change their minds, and I don’t know how we’re ever going to get away from that.” She wasn’t a conspiracy theorist, just a middle-class mother picking up pizza for her kids. Visit the US today and friends will tell you they think violence or unrest is coming. Sober sane people speak with all sincerity of a reckoning, upheaval and even civil war. In better days, midterm elections were a carnival of democracy. From the highest ruler to the city hunter, people get to choose who will run their lives in a system they’ve been told since childhood is the best form of government the world has ever known. But there is no sense of celebration this time. The mood is broken. Entrenched in polarized corners, Americans are suspicious of each other’s intentions and full of foreboding about what’s to come. This should concern us all.
