How Australians can watch the US election and why this may not be the end of the Trump circus

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are racing to the White House — but one political TV insider has revealed why the circus surrounding the President may not end.

With just a few days until the US decides its next president, the world’s media – including ours – are making the most of what could be left of the Trump “sh*t show.”

The former reality TV star, turned chaotic commander in chief, Donald Trump clings to power amid poor polling and an adversary he’s had difficulty denigrating as he did Hillary Clinton.

For Stan’s The Circus insider Mark McKinnon, covering his ninth presidential campaign as both a reporter and policy advisor, the rollercoaster that is US politics could have a few more highs and lows still to go.

“The one thing Donald Trump was right about, most people would agree, is that he recognised [Democratic nomination] Joe Biden was his greatest threat and that’s why he tried to talk Ukraine into dumping dirt on him.”

John Heilemann interviews Joe Biden for The Circus. Picture: Scott Kirkland/SHOWTIME

Put simply and less sensationally than the incumbent would usually see it, McKinnon says: “even if they’re not terribly excited about [Biden], they’re comfortable with him. They think he’s a safe choice in these times.”

Foxtel’s suite of news channels, including Sky News Australia, CNN and Fox News in America, will look to deliver the last-minute twists and turns of a campaign that is undoubtably more consequential than the one which delivered Trump a White House win.

Peter Stefanovic will lead Sky’s live coverage Stateside, while his brother Karl will do the same from Times Square, New York for Nine.

Sky News reporter Peter Stefanovic will host the network’s US eleciton coverage. Picture: Brett Costello

Karl Stefanovic will host Nine’s coverage from New York. Picture: Supplied by Channel 9.

His breakfast rival, Michael Rowland and Four Corners anchor, Sarah Ferguson will spearhead Aunty’s coverage of the decider, before the latter waits for her visa to be cleared as ABC’s next chief of the China bureau post-election.

Michael Rowland will co-host the ABC coverage. Picture: Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

Seven News anchor Michael Usher and former US correspondent Angela Cox will helm the network’s coverage here, crossing to US bureau chief Ash Mullany, Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr and veteran Tim Lester in America for poll results and reaction.

Michael Usher will co-host Seven’s coverage. Picture: Supplied by 7 News

Using its sister network connections, 10 will draw on the programming and punditry of CBS for its coverage of the election – with its national affairs editor, Hugh Riminton on the ground with the channel’s US news team.

Veteran journalist Hugh Riminton is with 10 News for the coverage. Picture: John Appleyard

Meanwhile, if election fatigue has not set in, SBS will air an acclaimed PBS Frontline special [8.30pm, tonight], Biden V Trump: The Choice 2020.

The agnostic broadcaster has produced an election year special since 1988, weaving together investigative biographies of both major-party candidates.

While the key issues for voters should be a historic pandemic, economic hardship and the country’s reckoning with racism, the personal stories of the rival leaders could prove the difference.

Back on The Circus, arguably the best political analysis show streaming today, McKinnon argues whatever the party politics, democracy has been changed by Trump forever.

Round table … Alex Wagner, John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon from The Circus. Picture: Alison Cohen Rosa/Stan

“This election is a referendum on Donald Trump. Democrats aren’t excited about voting for Joe Biden, they’re excited about voting against Donald Trump. If he wins with a clear mandate, the message is we want things done differently.”

“We had a little experiment here, testing the guard rails of politics and I think a lot of people think they barely held up. If he loses,” McKinnon warns, “will he peacefully leave the White House?” We think there’s a possibility that we won’t have a clear result on election night.”

Besides that terrifying outcome, he says the leadership vacuum could also continue.

“I think globally we’ve gone through a phase where people got really worried about the pace of change,” McKinnon says, “it was moving too fast for them.

“Globalisation meant suddenly it was more competitive for jobs, pay scales were dropping and they just became afraid of the future. Until somebody like Donald Trump came in and promised not to go forward but to go backwards, that’s the message that resonated with people,” he explains.

“But while that was successful four years ago, what’s happening right now … is people are being reminded why we need good government and why we need leadership in a crisis. One of the outcomes of this COVID crisis is going to be people will be reminded of the value and worth of healthcare systems that work and leadership that stands up in a crisis.”

* US election, from 5am Thursday on Sky News Australia. The Circus, streaming on Stan.

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Originally published as How Australians can watch the US election and why this may not be the end of the Trump circus