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Whoever triumphs in the US election, Xi and Putin will be the biggest winners
- American democracy was in poor shape before Donald Trump took office
- A political system that offers voters a choice between Trump and Joe Biden has obvious problems
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Why you can trust SCMP
Donald Trump and Joe Biden – I’m not eager for either to be president of the United States of America. The first is a bullying and terrorising man who wants to be an authoritarian leader, and who answers to no one. The second has proven during campaigning that he lacks vision, energy and a strong voice.
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I’m not American, so my opinion doesn’t count on election day. I do know, though, that when votes are tallied and the dust has settled – assuming it ever does – that the real winners will be the presidents of China, Xi Jinping, and Russia, Vladimir Putin.
Xi and Putin have held onto power by convincing their citizens that their systems of government are superior to the democracies of the West. Trump has been a blessing, his behaviour while in office bordering on criminal, showing little regard for his country’s constitution and spreading lies and hatred. He has named both China and Russia as America’s biggest rivals, imposing sanctions and using threatening rhetoric.
The shouting matches at debates, the horrific mismanagement of the Covid-19 outbreak during which mask wearing and social distancing have been ridiculed, the collapse of the American economy and the extraordinary jobless figures have made it easy for the Chinese and Russian leaders to contend that democracy is broken, corrupt and damaging.
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Trump has made no secret, while at the helm of the world’s self-declared only superpower, of his admiration for Xi and Putin, who govern their nations with iron fists. Trump dared to reach out to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, arguably the most brutal dictator of all, to talk about peace and even share a stage. Again, he spoke of admiration.
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Proving only his twisted way of thinking matters, his presidential term is leaving a trail of torn up international deals, governments having second thoughts about trusting him and a nation severely divided along political, economic, educational, ethnic and racial lines.
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