America is heading into a general election that has been unprecedented in terms of rhetoric, surprises and the potential to alter the founding principles of US democracy. In this three-part series, the Post looks at the legacy of the departing president, Joe Biden, and the influences and policies of the two contenders, former president Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris.
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Americans, steeped in a 250-year tradition of rule of law and checks and balances, have found themselves wondering hours before the presidential election on Tuesday how the country could be on the verge of a second Donald Trump term.
A convicted felon, the only US president to be impeached twice and a candidate who will not commit to accepting a losing outcome – having tried to overturn the 2020 election – Trump is seen by some as a communications genius inspiring fervid loyalty and by others as a master of hyperbole and “alternative facts”.
In recent months, he has threatened to become a dictator “only on day one”, turn the National Guard on “evil” domestic critics and impose wholesale tariffs on imports from China, US allies and potentially all the globe’s 200-plus nations.
“The most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff,’” Trump told business leaders at the Economic Club of Chicago in October, brushing off economists who view them as a tax on average Americans.
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“If I’m going to be president of this country, I’m going to put a 100, 200, 2,000 per cent tariff,” on Chinese electric vehicle imports from Mexico, he added. “We’re not going to destroy our country.”
