As US voters go to the polls on November 5th, they need to remind themselves that when the US elects its next domestic president, it is also selecting the emperor of a violent, global imperium. Choices made over sundry domestic issues have far reaching effects, far beyond local pocketbook or civil rights issues. They determine who lives and dies across the planet, and how much pain, harm and suffering the rest of the world will have to bear.

In this context, it’s fair to ask, who is the lesser evil? Trump or Harris?

The answer, of course, is “neither”. Like infinity, when it comes to evil, there’s not much use in finger-counting which is greater or lesser. They are cardinal equivalents. Third party is the moral choice.

However, between two terrible choices, President Kamala Harris–to the extent that she has institutional continuity with the Biden/CNAS administration and retains their key advisors–is likely to wage more wars: in Ukraine and most certainly with China.

This is not because Trump is less hawkish or more prudent, but because he is likely to be less effective. These have to do with:

Distraction, obstruction, and opprobrium:

Trump is likely to be focused on attacking/settling scores with domestic enemies, who have harassed, belittled, betrayed, tattled, audited, impeached, sued, indicted, prosecuted him, and possibly attempted his assassination. He is also more likely to be thwarted or obstructed by institutional forces as he implements his agenda, even if it is similar to Joe Biden’s, and more likely to attract opprobrium and opposition, including if he wages war.

Bean-counting vs Seoul force:

Trump has contempt for South Korea’s Yoon administration and wants to multiply the cost of stationing US troops in Korea nine-fold to $10 Billion/year. That could be a deal breaker. He openly refers to South Korea as a “money machine“. This mercantile transactionalism is likely to put........

© Pearls and Irritations