Supreme Tuesday

I’ve been writing this blog for long enough to have covered four previous US Presidential campaigns, and while the 2024 edition of the contest is arguably the one with the highest stakes, it is also by some way the least intriguing.

Back in 2008, Super Tuesday saw the Democratic primary still finely balanced between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton; 2012 was a bit less interesting, since even in March it was obvious that whoever ended up as the GOP nominee would have no chance in November, but the squabbling among the candidates was amusing; in 2016 the Republican race was wide open, though Trump had put his stamp upon it; and in 2020 progressives were split on whether to go with leftist Bernie or centrist Joe.

This time around though there is no suspense at all; it’s going to be Biden versus Trump. There was a slight hope that the Supreme Court might inject some excitement into the matter by barring Trump from the ballot, but, predictably enough, they dodged the opportunity to get involved, and let him off on a technicality.

So the fate of the free world will be entrusted to one of two old white guys. What could go wrong?