Led by the nose, voters go with flow as countries self-destruct

“THEY are terrible politicians.”

This came from a politician, a powerful but terrible one, this week in the run-up to the US mid-term elections.

Obviously, the politician didn’t have himself in mind. The terriblein-chief had his finger pointed at the despicable former governing party of the formerly great America.

It’s a terrible situation for voters left with no real choice as they go to the polls on Tuesday.

An elections expert warned that America, like the Roman Empire, may “never come back” from the mess it’s in.

Not that South Africans can feel smug. We have our own terribles, dreadfuls, awfuls, abominables and so on. And not much in the way of alternatives. Can South Africa come back? Will the on-going slow-motion renewal of the ruling party eventually remove us from the brink we are permanently on? What about the official opposition? Will it stop self-destructing? Especially now that its Dexit has finally happened with Patricia de Lille resigning?

Where do voters go when both the incumbent and the shadow governments are faltering? Anywhere?

That may explain how a nobody party came from nowhere to snatch the presidency in our sister comrade nation of Brazil. Where will Jair Bolsonaro – “Brazil’s Trump” – take one of the world’s biggest democracies and Brics?

It’s a really terrible state of affairs brought on by terrible politicians. But maybe things will start changing for the better in the next couple of days after the US elections. But the Trumps are on the march.