We’re all afraid of what is coming

IT’S no exaggeration to say Americans are scared. Climbproof fencing again surrounds the White House, and Los Angeles authorities are closing the famous Rodeo Drive.

Cops across the country are on tactical alert and working 12- hour shifts, and in Washington, shops are boarded up, as they are in many US cities, in readiness for feared riots.

Gun sales have skyrocketed, apartment co- ops are hiring their own security and many people have taken the rest of the week off work to hunker down at home.

Unfortunately, what this country needs most out of this election is the scenario considered most unlikely: a clear, indisputable winner.

Democrat Joe Biden is leading nationally but it is tight in the battleground states that will decide if Donald Trump gets another term.

Both parties on Tuesday doubled down on their commitment to challenge a verdict. Mr Trump again said the winner needed to be decided on election night – an impossibility given almost 100 million Americans voted early and some pivotal states have warned it will take at least until the end of the week to count all their ballots.

His repeated warnings that Democrats were “rigging” and “cheating” spurred fist pumping yells from the crowd who gathered to see him in belowfreezing weather in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Mr Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, said: “Under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared victor on election night.”

Both parties have already sent out armies of lawyers across the country in readiness for legal challenges.

In the absence of clear leadership, it’s hard to picture a good outcome unless one of the candidates assumes an unassailable lead.

I’ve been a news reporter for more than 25 years and I am feeling as unnerved as I have ever been. I pray I am wrong, but everything points to trouble coming.