The streets of Washington DC are like I have never known them before; cold, as ever at this time of year, but dystopian and unwelcoming. Most people are wearing masks, even outdoors and despite the sidewalks, squares and parks being sparsely populated.
For many blocks back from The White House, office buildings, shops, hotels and restaurants have boarded up their windows. Workmen are toiling frenetically still, bolting timbers to facades, sawing planks and screwing timbers.
An African-American woman asked me why they were doing this, and after apologising for my presumption as a visitor, I told her I believed it was because they feared riots after the election. “Oh yes,” she said, “oh yes, that would be right.”
Tourists struggle to snap a clear photo of the President’s abode from Lafayette Square, with fencing adorned by Black Lives Matter and other posters.
“Black Trans Lives Matter” says one, “Abolish Pigs” screams another, “Racism is Small Dick Energy,” and “No One Is Illegal on Stolen Land”.
Across the road, on the blocked street renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza, a keyboardist and a saxophonist (with face painted up like The Joker), play an instrumental dirge, while a handful of protesters sway as if in a trance.
A preacher warns of doom, and a man sits in his wheelchair waving an anti-Trump flag.
To the south of The White House, a white wall blocks the view of tourists and cars are kept well away.
At the traffic lights a temporary sign is posted by the Metropolitan Police Department: “All firearms are prohibited within 1000 feet of this sign. Effective Saturday October 31 through Sunday November 8, 2020.”
This is sad and troubling. But much of it is exactly what we would expect given the violence, vandalism and looting that has been mixed into political and race protests this year.
It is also a sad indictment on the intolerance and extremism of the political Left. The building that symbolises the power, unity and responsibility invested in the presidency is under siege from various elements of the hard Left. So long as Trump holds The White House, the building is in hostile territory in the overwhelmingly Democrat and woke surrounds of the District of Columbia.
Flick on your television, however, and there is the President, cheered by huge and wildly enthusiastic crowds in cities and towns that seem to be on a different planet and populated by different people. On a road trip across five states last week I met many Trump supporters, and their energy and optimism is matched only by Trump’s.
Today, Sunday, he left the capital at 8am, spoke at a rally in Michigan while snow fell on the open air gathering, then flew to a cold and blustery rally in Iowa at lunchtime. His itinerary takes him south to warmer climes with rallies in North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, where he departs for home at 11pm. Five crucial states in one day.
Challenger Joe Biden’s sabbath schedule involved church and a single, socially distanced car rally in Pennsylvania, a crucial state to be sure, but also closest to his home in Delaware. The contrast in campaigning styles could not be more stark.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 1, 2020
Biden’s strategy has been to avoid campaigning – he is essentially sitting it out to the greatest extent he can. He wants the focus to be squarely on his volatile and polarising opponent.
If he wins, there will be relief that the tactic worked. If he loses, there will be hell to pay about a party that essentially chose a candidate it needed to hide, and then set about concealing him.
Biden is a hard sell. He is neither charismatic nor convincing, and his public appearances tend to be either vague or angry. And he is promising higher taxes and a vast, costly and risky climate agenda.
Fired up! pic.twitter.com/fqFCBvwudr
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) November 1, 2020
The pandemic is used as the justification, but it is more accurate to describe COVID-19 as the excuse. Up until now, the public polling has shown this strategy was working.
Yet just 48 hours from polling day it is clear the momentum is with Trump. The enthusiasm of his supporters, the theatre of his rallies and the tightening across a range of polls in battleground states all underscore this reality.
The only question is whether this swing to Trump has come too late. Will it be enough to power him across the line in the crucial states, or will it merely make his run appear more competitive?
Complicating all this is the pandemic and the change to voting patterns. More than 90 million people have already voted, perhaps 100 million by the time you read this, and this is more than two thirds the total number of votes cast in 2016.
So, if the surge to Trump is on, are there enough votes still to come on Tuesday to deliver him a second term? The number of workers frantically boarding up buildings in Democrat strongholds like DC, New York and Los Angeles suggests there must be a lot of corporate risk managers who think Trump might just do it.
Chris Kenny will host The Kenny Report live from Washington DC on Sky News Australia at 5pm
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