TRUMP, CLINTON OR 'NONE OF THE ABOVE' ?

The Presidential debates between Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton have been torrid affairs. Each has slung mud, great dollops of it, at the other and neither has really emerged with any credit. In fact, American voters still seem to be faced with voting for either an egotistical, misogynistic old man or an egotistical, lying old woman. Personally, I find both of them pretty revolting and I'd be looking for someone else, anyone else actually.

Sadly, however, this is not the first time that Presidential candidates and Presidents have been found to have feet of clay. Richard 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon was forced to resign due to the Watergate scandal; Bill Clinton, husband of the egregious Hilary, was a philanderer who lied and twisted the truth about his affairs and was almost impeached; the 'sainted' John F Kennedy was a serial womaniser and adulterer, as were his brothers who both sought the highest office. Indeed, brother Edward was implicated in the tragic death of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969, an event which effectively ended his Presidential aspirations. Even the 'great' Franklin D Roosevelt was a serial adulterer. Warren Harding's Presidency after the First World War has been marred by the subsequent  revelations of various scandals and adulterous affairs.  

Way back in 1804, a protracted and highly distasteful antagonism between Vice President Aaron Burr and his political opponent Alexander Hamilton ended in a duel in which Hamilton was mortally wounded; Burr fled to South Carolina in order to avoid charges, including murder, though these were later dropped. He subsequently found himself indicted for treason though again he escaped punishment; nonetheless, his political career had come to an ignominious end.

Trump and Clinton are no more and no less than 2 more seedy characters who have bought their way to prominence in the time-honoured American way. The shocking thing is that they have already been voted for by many thousands of people who seem to believe that they are fit candidates for the highest office. Whichever wins the election on November 8th, January will, in fact, see the inauguration of one of the least fit Presidents in American history, which really is saying something given the 'quality' of some of their predecessors.