FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
IN WASHINGTON – Here we go. Today America chooses whether to confirm Donald Trump or change seasons, sending Joe Biden to the Oval Office. The country is approaching the polls in an anxious climate, crossed by ominous omens. We will see how well founded. Yesterday morning, life flowed normally in the White House area. Few tourists, some walking with the dog in the gardens that look towards the colonnade. But in these hours the military will enclose the entire residence, also closing Lafayette Park with the same nets used in early June, in the days of protests against police violence, of the mounted agents sent by Trump against the demonstrators and the ravages of the night.
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At sunset, Washington empties. A little for Covid, a little for the fear of riots and looting. The other night, in the streets of the center and the nightlife, whole trucks of wooden panels were unloaded, to be applied to the windows of shops, banks and hotels. Frenzied preparations are also underway in other American cities. In New York, especially on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan; but also in the most secluded cities, such as Columbus in Ohio, where we have seen practically the entire downtown area sealed off.
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I reportage
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Trump in Wisconsin exorcizes the virus: With Biden you die of poverty, by Massimo Gaggi
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Pennsylvania: Obama’s shock in Philadelphia queuing to vote, by Giuseppe Sarcina
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In Pennsylvania in Biden’s backyard that I revolted Trump, by Massimo Gaggi
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In Florida, Trump’s fate is in the hands of the active elders of the Villages, by Viviana Mazza
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South Carolina, at the black lawyer’s drive-in defying Trump’s hound, by Massimo Gaggi
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In Texas the queues are now at the polling stations: Migrants? Forget it, by Giuseppe Sarcina
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Georgia, in the car with the militia leader: Ready to intervene at the polls, by Massimo Gaggi
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At Ivanka Trump’s rally in Florida: Brilliant, but not like his father, by Viviana Mazza
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In Michigan Biden everything is played (weapons permitting), by Massimo Gaggi
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Voting operations have so far been conducted in an orderly manner. Long lines everywhere, from Arizona to Pennsylvania. However, disturbing news is multiplying. On Sunday, one of the caravans organized by Trump supporters blocked a freeway and the Mario Cuomo Bridge in New Jersey. In Richmond, Virginia, shouts and insults from a distance between Trumpians at activists of Black Lives Matter, near the statue of Robert Lee, the commander of the Southern Army in the Civil War. Last Friday in Texas, on the road between San Antonio and Austin, another parade of cars tried to skid a bus with fans of Joe Biden on board. The FBI has opened an investigation. Trump tweeted: I love Texas and the FBI should investigate Antifa anarchists. And so on.
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Isolated episodes or an anticipation of what could happen in the next few days? Much will depend on Trump’s attitude. From tonight to late at night, the focus will be on the president. Trump will return from the last rallies and await the first results at the White House, where a party with hundreds of guests was organized, ignoring, once again, the anti-contagion recommendations of the scientists.
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The American leader continues to fuel tensions, hinting that he already has a strong team of lawyers ready to challenge the results in some key states, such as Pennsylvania. Sunday evening the site Axios had revealed that Trump would have confided to some of his informal advisers that on November 3 he would have declared himself the winner of the elections, if he were ahead, without waiting for the final report. The president had his spokesmen deny it, but uncertainty remains about the next steps. Counting of ballots will be cumbersome and procedures will vary from state to state. For the moment 97.5 million Americans have already voted: a record threshold, equal to two thirds of voters in 2016. The problem is that offices have been inundated with 60.5 million ballots sent by post.
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Pennsylvania, for example, will continue to accept mail packages until November 6, as long as they are shipped by November 3. In Florida, North Carolina and Arizona, early vote counting has already begun. From then on, the first semi-definitive results could arrive in the late American night (morning in Italy). To stay in the White House, Trump will have to prevail in all three of these states and vice versa, Biden could only need one to mortgage victory.
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November 2, 2020 (change November 2, 2020 | 23:52)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
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