America prepares for the conflict of two stark visions on Election Day

America is selecting its path ahead, and the stakes could not be increased.

Both candidates introduced stark visions for the longer term ought to they lose this election. Donald Trump says the nation will “go to hell” and turn into “communist instantly” if he loses, whereas Kamala Harris describes her opponent as a “fascist” who needs “unchecked energy”.

Voters in key battle states have been bombarded with election advertisements, largely designed to induce concern. Given this local weather, it is no marvel that Americans surveyed report excessive ranges of hysteria.

“I actually imagine they’re making us stay in concern simply to get our vote,” Heather Soucek informed me in Wisconsin as Election Day approached. He lives in a swing county in a swing state and plans to help Trump as a result of, in his phrases, Harris’ financial plans are “appalling.”

But simply alongside the way in which I additionally met Tracy Andropolis, a registered unbiased who stated she would vote for Harris. “It’s one of the vital elections of my lifetime. There’s rather a lot at stake,” she stated, including that she was nervous Trump would refuse to surrender energy if he gained.

Both expressed honest fears for the longer term ought to their candidate lose, reflecting the existential temper of many citizens within the run-up to the election.

Ms. Andropolis additionally informed me she did not imagine in head-to-head polls. Not as a result of he has laborious proof, however as a result of he cannot think about that tens of millions of individuals intend to vote for Trump. And she is on no account alone in her battle to just accept the closeness of this race.

One of the issues I’ve discovered from touring round this nation and speaking to voters is that America not solely appears remarkably divided, but it surely appears like two separate nations coexisting awkwardly on the identical land mass.

Democrats stay largely in cities and suburbs, whereas Republicans stay largely in rural areas. Americans are more and more shifting to locations the place their neighbors share their political imaginative and prescient. And it isn’t tough to determine these areas in the meanwhile, given the indicators and indicators that so usually demarcate Trump and Harris’ turf.

But it’s not potential to stay in these separate political worlds ceaselessly. These two sides are about to collide with the tough actuality of an election.

However contested, nevertheless contested, there have to be a winner.

And when some right here be taught the ultimate consequence and understand that tens of tens of millions of their fellow countrymen suppose very otherwise from them, it will likely be a shock.

Both Trump and Harris charted their very own historic and tumultuous paths main as much as Election Day.

I used to be amongst journalists gathered exterior a Manhattan courthouse to witness Trump’s arraignment in his secret legal trial in April. He was discovered responsible weeks later, changing into the primary former or sitting president to be convicted of a criminal offense. Many puzzled on the time: Could a convicted felon actually reclaim the White House?

But his authorized troubles and his declare that he was intentionally focused by the Biden administration have solely fueled his marketing campaign and infected his supporters. “They’re not on the lookout for me, they’re on the lookout for you,” he stated so usually.

“They’re utilizing the legal justice system as a weapon in opposition to their political enemies, and that is not proper,” considered one of his supporters informed me exterior court docket. “I’ll combat for this man till the day I die,” stated one other.

A well-recognized sample emerged: With every indictment, his ballot rankings rose and monetary donations poured in.

Just suppose again to the second final 12 months when his mug shot was taken as a part of the Georgia election interference case. It shortly turned an iconic picture that now adorns most of the T-shirts I see at Trump rallies.

And it is inconceivable to chronicle the previous president’s wild journey to Election Day with out the second that produced one other iconic picture and almost ended the competition altogether.

When Trump was killed by a would-be murderer in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, it shook this race and this nation to the core. As he was helped to his toes by Secret Service brokers, blood pouring from his ear, he raised his fist within the air and urged his supporters to combat.

When he confirmed up at his get together conference in Milwaukee simply 48 hours later with gauze over his ear, some within the viewers cried. I may see tears streaming down the face of a delegate standing subsequent to me. It was Tina Ioane, who was from American Samoa.

“He is the anointed one,” he informed me. “He was known as to guide our nation.”

In that summer season section, from an electoral viewpoint, Trump appeared unassailable.

On the opposite hand, Democrats had been more and more depressed about their prospects. Deeply anxious that their candidate, Joe Biden, was too outdated to win re-election.

I used to be within the press room watching his chaotic debate in opposition to Trump in late June. There was shocked silence as we watched Biden’s 50-year political profession basically come to an finish earlier than our eyes.

But even then, lots of those that publicly urged he step apart had been rebuffed. Biden’s marketing campaign additionally hit out on the “bed-wetting brigade” who had been calling for him to go away.

It would, in fact, be a query of time.

Just days after the jubilant Republican conference in July, when Trump seemed like he could not lose, Biden introduced he was giving up his re-election bid. The temper amongst Democratic supporters quickly shifted from anxious pessimism to anticipatory pleasure.

Any reservations they’d about Kamala Harris being their finest candidate had been erased at a joyous conference in Chicago a couple of weeks later. The individuals who had resigned themselves to defeat had been now overwhelmed by a wave of enthusiasm.

This election represented a chance to “overcome the bitterness, cynicism and divisive battles of the previous,” he stated to applause.

But this burst of pleasure did not final. After an preliminary rise within the polls, Harris struggled to keep up momentum. He seems to have shortly gained again mainstream Democrats who did not help Biden however discovered it more durable to win over essential undecided voters.

Harris, nevertheless, has repeatedly put out a extra optimistic message. She has additionally made reproductive rights a cornerstone of her marketing campaign and hopes the problem will encourage girls to take part in massive numbers.

But the problem, as in all presidential elections, is to persuade the undecided.

I met Zoie Cheneau at a hair salon she owns in Atlanta, Georgia, lower than two weeks earlier than the election. She stated she has by no means been so unmotivated to vote.

“To me it is the lesser of two evils proper now,” he stated, explaining that he would in the end vote for Harris, however believes Trump may turn into higher for small companies.

“I might be thrilled {that a} Black girl turns into president of the United States,” she stated. “And he’ll win, I do know he’ll win.”

While some voters are anxious and imagine the race is shut, Cheneau’s certainty in regards to the ultimate final result is one thing supporters of each events specific repeatedly.

Many Harris supporters merely can not perceive why she will not be forward of a convicted felon who was publicly attacked and mocked by those that served in her final administration.

Trump supporters are equally horrified that anybody would vote for a candidate who has stepped again on coverage and was within the White House at a time when unlawful border crossings have reached document ranges.

These two tribes exist in what seem like parallel political ecosystems, throughout a deep partisan divide the place opposing views are rejected and candidates encourage a loyal loyalty that goes past regular get together affiliation.

Voters have been given apocalyptic warnings about what may occur if the opposite aspect wins. They had been informed that this election is about far more than who will sit within the Oval Office for the following 4 years. Many imagine it’s an existential occasion that would have disastrous penalties.

There is little doubt that the tone of this marketing campaign has raised the stakes, rising anxiousness and pressure, that means that the implications of this election could possibly be explosive. We anticipate authorized challenges and avenue protests wouldn’t be a shock to anybody.

This is a nation divided between opposing visions of what’s at stake. But it’s on the polling stations that crimson and blue America will meet and be counted.

Whatever the end result, about half the nation is about to search out that the opposite half has a totally completely different notion of what America requires.

For the losers, this might be a painful realization.