I am no Kamala fan, but if you back Trump over her your moral compass is broken

Donald’s flaws go beyond anything remotely acceptable in a functioning democracy, yet somehow people accept them as part of the package

As I watched the footage of Donald Trump serving burgers and cooking fries at a drive-thru McDonalds in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, I wondered why I even cared that this was just another fraudulent stunt. He was pretending to “work” there; the place was closed down. It was just a way to troll Kamala Harris, who has said she once took a summer job in a McDonald’s. Trump has never had a summer job, he simply inherited millions, most of which he blew. But why worry about another Trump lie?
It’s what he does. Everyone knows this. 
A phrase that has become common, and one that I particularly hate, is the one used to convey that certain politicians’ flaws are “priced in” to their appeal. Priced in is an investing term that means the value of stock has been adjusted to meet the expectations of all the investors and new information will not change it. The outcome of future events – good or bad – is reflected in the price.
So, when we use it about politicians it means the public are well aware of that person’s flaws but somehow accept this as part of the package. 
Trump lies, Boris Johnson has difficulties with the actualité, Nigel Farage will stir racial tension wherever possible. 
What else is “priced in” with Trump, though? Sexual assault (according to a civil jury), numerous crimes, hush money paid to a porn star, electoral subversion. These go beyond anything remotely acceptable in a functioning democracy. This silly McDonald’s charade was part of an attack on Harris, who he says is lying about her stint in the fast-food restaurant. Trump’s modus operandi is often to accuse opponents of his own crimes, small or large.
It is genuinely shocking to see respectable Right-wingers here endorse Trump on the basis that they cannot stand Harris or a Democrat win. Where is their moral compass? I am not Harris’s biggest fan. She is prone to Californian psychobabble, was surely part of the cover-up of just how cognitively impaired Biden was becoming and is decidedly unclear in certain policy areas. Nonetheless, if she loses the election, I do not think she will be signalling to armed militias to overthrow the election results. I do not think she will hand over Ukraine to Putin. I do not think she will align herself with every other superannuated dictator and abandon Europe.
Trump is part of a wave of populist power brokers who see all problems as being caused by immigration, dangerous foreigners flooding the country and liberal ideas destroying the family. They are unafraid to play to the delusions of the “left behind”, who turn out mostly to be men who no longer feel everything is going their way.
This game is playing out everywhere from Italy (Meloni) to Hungary (Orban) to Austria, Sweden and the UK. It is, despite its macho swagger, an incredibly emotional discourse. “All that you have lost, all that you feel should be yours, will be restored. All those who have ‘taken’ your natural inheritance: women, immigrants, black people, gays – will be put back in their natural place.”
This appeals as much to the ultra-rich tech bros as to the poor rural folk devastated by deindustrialisation and the opioid crisis. The outskirts of many major American cities are now encampments, favelas – slums of lost and desperate people.
To still believe in the American Dream where Elon Musk suddenly gives you a million dollars is to close one’s eyes to reality.
This, of course, is what Trump excels at. His reality is a moveable feast, which is why the polite but consistent rehearsal of facts exposing his mendacity does not dent him.
Barack Obama’s recent exasperation at Trump’s accusation that money to rebuild after the hurricanes was instead being channelled to immigrants – this is false –  was yet another calling out of his lies. “When did this become OK?” he cried. Obama also zeroed in on the gendered nature of this election, telling male voters that bullying is not what real strength is: “Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves.”
Such a sentiment will not sway those inclined to vote for Trump because he advertises his ability to violate not only women but all codes and norms of what looks like an increasingly analogue notion of political persuasion. Like his friend Putin, he operates essentially as a mob leader depending on ever more bizarre conspiracy theories, weird paranoia and an understanding that his job is not to make things better but to entertain his supporters. America is not what it was but nor is Trump, who is now just a bitter old man whose speeches are word salads of arrogance and self-pity.
This may well appeal, because if the world is against you and everything is controlled in the shadows and truth is but the last YouTube video you watched, who will save you but a strong man? As Peter Pomerantsev, one of the best chroniclers of Putin’s methodology and disinformation, points out, there are numerous parallels between America and Russia.
Cynicism has replaced censorship. Lies are “priced in”. Trust is gone. Apathy rules and Trump is endorsed by those who really should know better. 
Or they believe they may profit from the darkness that giving up on the very idea of truth may bring. When that is priced in, we are all in trouble.