London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Let’s face it, US politics is just a showy soap opera laced with enough nepotism and corruption to make a banana republic blush

Let’s face it, US politics is just a showy soap opera laced with enough nepotism and corruption to make a banana republic blush

Charlie Stone
It’s four weeks to election day. Chaos reigns in the White House. The contagious president still doesn’t wanna wear a mask. Will Donald have to be dragged out by force? Find out in the season finale of... ‘The Banana Republic.’
There was an American show that ran on pretty much every TV set in the whole wide world in the 1980s called ‘Dynasty’ – pronounced ‘die-nasty’ by Americans, who like to mangle the English language.

The main images that immediately spring to mind are all teeth and hair. Perfect teeth, perfect hair. Male or female. Oh, and the theme tune. And money.

Money, money, money. I can’t remember a single plot line though, not one.

American politics in a nutshell.

There was Dallas too, which was basically the same show – the very same teeth, the very same hair. And, yes, the same money, money, money. Both shows were given reboots a few years ago, but nobody seemed to notice them the second time around.

The ‘80s sugar has all been consumed, and everyone knows the fundamental flaw with sugar; eat too much and it makes you sick. The gloss has gone, the teeth are all crowns, and dental implants and all that hair... the style hasn’t changed much but it has lost its sheen and gone grey.

The world is watching America, but not for any kind of ‘leadership.’ ‘Dynasty’ has turned into ‘The Sopranos.’ Some Americans are talking of a second civil war (apparently to be fought mostly on Twitter and Facebook). Democrats and Republicans are ‘going to the mattresses.’

The rest of us are all mere spectators. We have no say whatsoever in what happens in the good old US of A. So, relax – sit back and enjoy the show.

The next four weeks is just going to be two angry old men, shouting at each other VERY LOUDLY! Yet saying nothing much of anything at all.

Polls show that 40 percent of registered voters will vote Trump, come what may. The numbers just don’t drop much below 40 for the Donald, and they haven’t for a good while. Bungling the response and then catching Covid-19 – streaking naked in the moonlight across the Rose Garden lawn, whatever – nothing can knock him under 40 for long. Nothing.

But hang on, take a deep breath, put your fingers in your ears and block out all the noise. Trump v Biden is actually basically just Coke v Pepsi (even the colors match). Same as it always is in American politics. If you check out the policies, they are not separated by vast chasms. It’s hardly Karl Marx v Adolf Hitler. It’s very little to do with policy, it’s all about personality.

Donald Trump has proven that anyone can, indeed – with the right personality – become president. If you are in possession of an almost irrational quantity of self-belief, are mildly telegenic, oh and have a few billion dollars lying around or rich benefactors willing to splurge on your campaign, then the keys to the White House could be yours.

Trump v Biden. I mean really, Uncle Sam, is this the BEST you can do?

America has almost three times as many Nobel Prize winners as any other country and almost twice as many billionaires as its nearest rival. And yet, from a population of almost 330 million, the choice for president in exactly four weeks time boils down to... two furious, inarticulate geriatrics shouting at each other across a socially distanced stage.

What’s more, the election, as Trump keeps screaming, may not even be safe.

Most of my banking is done online or via an app these days, and I’d suggest people are way more protective and paranoid of their hard-earned cash than they’ll ever be about their vote. The damn thing scans your face or does a fingerprint test only the police used to be able to do. How hard can it be to make a voting app?

But, apparently, the US voting system is so wide open to corruption that some bloke can just pop along with a mail bag and stuff a load of slips marked ‘Biden’ into a ballot box (but, presumably, none marked ‘Trump’) and swing the election. Remember ‘hanging chads,’ anyone?

And then there’s the result. Due to an absurd and antiquated system, a president can get elected even though the other guy or gal actually got more votes (as happened, of course, in Trump v Hillary Clinton and George W. Bush v Al Gore).

It’s nuts. It’s bonkers. It’s an insane soap opera.

I lived in Asia for many years and was a correspondent in Manila. The Philippines, my apologies to Filipinos, was a nut house. And the politics down there was so often just a silly, yet very dangerous, soap opera. And, funnily enough, the Philippines could once have become an American state.

Well, the US, right now, feels exactly the same and, just like any self-respecting banana republic, it is also a family affair.

You disagree? President George H.W. Bush and then his son George ‘Dubya.’ President Bill Clinton’s missus almost ran all the way to the White House. Many people have been trying to push Michelle Obama to make a bid too, and maybe she will, next time. But the real race to watch in ‘The Banana Republic’ will be in three or four elections time when the youngest Trump boy, Barron, takes on the youngest Obama girl, Sasha.

Anyway, that’s for the future.

Let’s all just sit back for four weeks and watch the climax to this season of ‘The Banana Republic.’ Pop round mine for the finale if you like, what are you drinking? Coke or Pepsi?


----------------------------------------
* By Charlie Stone, author and journalist who has worked for the BBC, several national newspapers in the UK and international media.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×