It's the last lap of the election on this coming Tuesday. The polls are against President Trump but on the iconic photograph of a victorious beaming Truman holding a newspaper headlining a Dewey win showed many years ago . . . the polls are not always right.
Nobody knows how strongly Trump supporters love their man or dislike Democrats in general and Joe Biden in particular. On the other side Trump is hated vigorously by many. The intensity of these feelings determine exactly how many will turn up to vote on a cold, possibly rainy November day. So we have to wait and see. The jubilation and the disappointments too have to wait.
Coronavirus infections are hitting a second wave in the US contradicting President Trump's claims of the epidemic being over. The new wave could also be ringing the death knell for the Trump presidency.
Europe has the same problem. A 100,000 people could be being infected daily in England according to a new study by Imperial College, London. It estimates infections doubling every nine days. Actual cases being reported there were 24,701 on Wednesday. Germany is experiencing a new surge with 16,774 cases on Thursday. It is again imposing restrictions on bars, restaurants, gyms and theaters.
France too has been severely hit once more. On Wednesday there were 36,437 new cases. President Emmanuel Macron announced a second wave 'that no doubt will be harder than the first' he said. He has announced a lockdown allowing people to leave home for only medical reasons and necessary work.
There are now nearly 46 million cases in the world . The US has the most (9.3 million) with India second (8.1 million). The latter reports a suspiciously low death rate of 88 per million. It is 709 in the US, 749 in Brazil, 560 in France, 680 in the UK where Boris Johnson has been about as cavalier as Trump in tackling the epidemic. A sober and efficient Merkel has kept the grim reaper's tally at only 125 per million. By the time this article is published, all these numbers will be higher.
Trump's bete noire Dr. Anthony Fauci is an ever present face on TV reminding us almost daily how many lives could have been saved if Trump had listened to the expert scientists. It has prompted Joe Biden to proclaim repeatedly that he would follow the advice of experts.
That is also good news in the fight against global warming, which has exacerbated severe weather events. The Atlantic hurricane season exhausted the alphabet names this year and is into Greek letters. The latest being hurricane zeta. Warming is a hoax for Trump who claims it's a plot to destroy our 'big beautiful economy'.
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