America has now entered what may be one of the most dangerous months in recent memory. That was true even before Thursday night, when a virus that should have been easy to keep away from a responsible White House sidelined entire ranks of West Wing staff, senior Republican leaders, and hospitalized the president himself.
Now, instead of a country focused on successfully defending and executing a rapidly approaching and logistically complex election, the United States is as splintered and distracted as it has been in modern history.
Trouble and worry mount in every direction. The final run-up to Election Day—and the days after—have been appearing more fraught all year, as US intelligence warnings of foreign interference alternately appear either dire or, just as troubling, silenced entirely, buried out of fear of upsetting the president. At the same time, the president has recklessly spent the fall stoking questions about the legitimacy of an already complicated and unprecedented election, as state election administrators attempt to transition and adopt pandemic-friendly voting systems on the fly.
Throughout this incredible, news-packed year, Twitter jokes and online memes have suggested that the screenwriters of 2020 have gone a bit too heavy on the chaos and apocalyptic overtones. And yet, in the final month before the election, you would be hard-pressed to write an election scenario more worrisome than what the US now faces.
There are seven distinct factors over the next month that threaten to combine, compound, and reinforce each othe ..
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