Northern Slant hosts 'The U.S. and us' online discussion

With three weeks to go in an ever-more surreal and unpredictable presidential election framed by an escalating death toll and economic fallout from the global pandemic, one of the few certainties is that the outcome will affect more than just the US. The ramifications will be felt around the world and could be especially significant for us here in Northern Ireland, caught in the middle of uncertain relationships between Washington, London, Dublin and Brussels.

The choice between four more years of President Donald Trump, or the policies of his Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, could hardly be more stark – and arguably particularly for Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit. So as we head towards election day, we wanted to discuss some of the important issues raised by the campaign and it’s potential aftermath, both for the US and for us.

With the Coronavirus continuing to rage across the US, President Trump is desperate not to waste a day’s campaigning, with early voting having started in many states – more than 10 million votes have already been cast, a huge increase over 2016 – and national polls showing him consistently trailing Joe Biden, in large part because of the administration’s handling of the pandemic and particularly among older voters.

In a display of political optimism meanwhile, an emboldened Biden has been campaigning in places like Ohio, a state Trump won by eight points in 2016. If the challenger succeeds in flipping this state it will likely prove pivotal in denying Trump a path to re-election.

Back in the nation’s capital, this past week saw Senate hearings on the president’s controversial nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the US Supreme Court. The process – which will likely end with her confirmation and potentially remake the highest court for long after the man who chose her is out of office – has proved deeply divisive and will make for a contentious backdrop to the remainder of the presidential campaign.

It’s obviously impossible to predict just how the rest of the campaign will play out, how the voting process itself might unfold, or what the US and the World might look like the morning after the November 3^rd election. But that doesn’t mean we can’t talk about it.

Six months ago, in the “Before Times,” we at Northern Slant were preparing to present a discussion event, “The US and us – The Next Chapter in Northern Ireland’s Transatlantic Relationship” as part of the Imagine Festival of Ideas and Politics.

Unfortunately, Covid intervened and we weren’t able to host the event in person. We delayed moving online, as many other festival events did, in the hope that we might be able to reconvene later in the year. Alas, those plans were also swept away with a continuation of the virus and its restrictions.

So we’ve put together the next best thing: a virtual discussion featuring Northern Slant writers and most of our original panelists. Our editors and contributors are joined by Chris Buckler, host of the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster and previously their Washington correspondent; as well as Dr Julie Norman, Teaching Fellow in Politics and International Relations at University College London. They bring an insight and expertise to help us view the election from afar.

In this three-part video event, we look at the topics that are likely to dominate the final weeks – the all-pervasive Coronavirus response and the future of healthcare, as well as the resulting economic impact. We’ll also look at issues like the Black Lives Matter movement and the campaign for racial justice, and how fundamental disagreements within a society as firmly entrenched as Red and Blue America might eventually be resolved.

But, crucially, the discussion is about how this most significant of elections is also vital to the future of the world – and specifically for us here in Northern Ireland at a sensitive moment in our own politics.