America gripped by fear

IT’S no exaggeration to say a lot of Americans are scared today.

Climb-proof fencing surrounds the White House and Californian authorities are closing off Rodeo Drive. Cops across the country are on tactical alert and working 12-hour shifts through their leave.

In Washington DC, most of wealthy Georgetown is boarded up, as are many US cities, and college students were warned to stock up on food and medicine in case of fullscale riots.

Guns sales have skyrocketed, apartment co-ops are hiring security and many people have taken the rest of the week off work so they can hunker down at home.

What this country needs most out of the presidential 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 doubled down on Tuesday on their commitment to challenge a verdict.

Mr Trump again said the winner needed to be decided on election night, a physical impossibility given that almost 100 million Americans voted early and some pivotal states warn 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 on Tuesday from the crowd who gathered to see him in below-freezing weather in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Both parties have sent out armies of lawyers in readiness for legal challenges.