Demonstrators with a reminder of the US Coronavirus death toll as fireworks go off over the White House, August 27, 2020

UPDATE, AUGUST 29:

I spoke further with Monocle 24’s Georgina Godwin on Saturday about the week in US politics, focusing on the sharply different messages from the Democratic and Trump Conventions — and assessing whether issues or a “culture of fear” will be decisive in November’s elections.

Listen to Discussion from 2:23

Not only do you have these issues which are going to affect generations to come, you have Donald Trump working as a President not within the American system but one who tries to override the system.

If he gets another four years, you have a question as to whether the American system, which is already damaged, is beyond function — and you have a much different United States where Donald Trump can put fiction over fact, “my way or the highway”, and who is there to maintain checks and balances?

We also examine why dealing with issues of law and order is different from Trump’s shout, “LAW AND ORDER”, which is “meant to divide”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: I joined Monocle 24’s Georgina Godwin on Friday to review two weeks of US conventions, from the Democrats — and some Republicans — last week to Donald Trump this week.

We set up the two-month sprint to November’s Presidential and Congressional elections with the contrast between the Democrat message of “hope over fear”, as well as leadership and responsiblity, v. the Trump camp’s “culture of fear” trying to scare up votes for a second term.

Talking about a “socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny” or “whether we give free rein to anarchists, agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens” — I think that sets up a clear contrast between the Democratic Convention and what is now the Trump Convention.

The Democrat emphasis on unity, on “light over darkness”, on “going high”, on “hope over fear” v. Trump’s emphasis on whipping up a “culture of fear”.

We talk about the response to Trump, through Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s speech on Thursday, and whether Trump will accept the election result if he loses: “Will you have to call in security to drag him out of the White House?”

See also EA on BBC: Jacob Blake Protests, The Conventions, and Hope v. Fear

Listen from 5:39: