Bitterest of battles where a side was picked early on

Brutal campaign marked by Covid and contempt has left America looking more divided than ever

DONALD TRUMP had swept to the presidency vowing to build a wall. But on election day 2020 it was not a barrier at the border but one around the White House that made headlines.

The 8ft black chain fence erected overnight along the perimeter of the president’s residence, long nicknamed the People’s House, was said to be “unscalable”.

It refle cted t he mass protests expected on America’s streets whatever the result – a sign of a nation bracing itself for what comes next.

But it was also a fitting end to a campaign dominated by insults, exaggerations and mutual contempt that has left America’s political divide deeper still.

Right from the start the election race was framed in apocalyptic terms, not just “the most important race of my lifetime” – as candidates always say – but a test of the country’s founding values.

For Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate and former vice-president, Mr Trump posed a threat to the very “soul of the nation”, an aberration that must be proved to be a blip rather than the new norm.

For the president, his rival would change America’s way of life forever. He claimed he was a puppet for “radical socialists” who would do away with the country’s “guns, oil and God”.

Mr Trump appeared to have written that script well before the first Democratic primary votes, determined to paint whoever his opponent was as so Left-wing as to be unelectable.

However, Mr Biden was an unhelpful opponent on that front. The 77-year-old was no radical – he had spent five decades in Washington and had a career defined by coalition-building.

His victory in the Democratic primaries, after early stumbles in Iowa and New Hampshire, came in opposition to independent senator Bernie Sanders, a “democratic socialist” who vowed “political revolution”.

Mr Biden had been picked, it appeared, because as an old white man from Pennsylvania with eight years of White House experience he seemed the safest bet to defeat Mr Trump.

The question of character, and more specifically leadership in a crisis, would become one of the central features of the election after the issue that defined the race – the pandemic.

Days after Mr Biden effectively wrapped up his nomination, the Covid19 outbreak took hold in America.

One clear and immediate impact was on the economy. Mr Trump’s team had put the booming growth of over 3 per cent and record job numbers at the heart of his re-election campaign.

Now the “businessman president” was overseeing jumps in unemployment not seen since the Thirties. Stock markets plummeted. The steady growth became a sharp downturn.

The plan had been to ask the famous Reagan question: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” After the Covid-triggered crash, that strategy had to be parked.

It was also a test of leadership. At first Mr Trump declared himself a “wartime president” fighting the “invisible enemy” of the virus. The result was a jump in ratings to the highest of his first term, in a “rally around the flag” effect.

But as spring turned to summer then

autumn, the president moved away from his scientific advisers, focusing instead on reopening the economy.

There were erratic moments – floating the injection of disinfectant as a treatment being a notable one – triggering a media backlash that caused Mr Trump to end his daily briefings.

The challenge for the president, critics said, was you cannot spin a pandemic. Week by week, the proportion of Americans who approved of his handling of it dropped. By the autumn a clear majority in polls consistently disapproved.

Mr Biden, meanwhile, focused on landing the big moments without blunders. He picked as his running mate Kamala Harris, who had run for the presidential nomination.

The Californian senator, daughter of an I ndian mother and J amaican father, made the ticket racially diverse and was less Left-wing than other options.

The Biden team, reading the polls, made Covid-19 the central issue of the campaign. They believed voters wanted stable leadership and hoped their man ticked that box rather than Mr Trump.

But there were dangers. Virtual campaigning led to Mr Biden broadcasting from his Delaware basement for most of the summer, a fact mocked and derided by Trump supporters.

Throughout the race, there was immense tumult. The biggest anti-racism protests in five decades swept America.

Mr Trump vowed to re-establish “law and order” as violence and looting were seen in US cities and called out “cancel culture” as Confederate statues toppled.

He gave a convention speech before a packed crowd, despite the pandemic and in contrast to the largely virtual Democratic convention.

But the polls would not budge. Mr Biden throughout the year had a nationwide lead of between five and 10 points and kept ahead in most of the big battleground states.

Even the most dramatic twist of all, Mr Trump himself getting coronavirus and being rushed to hospital, did not appear to radically alter the dynamics. For all t he “campaign- changing moments” of the race – the opening up of a Supreme Court seat, swiftly filled, was another – none appeared to fundamentally alter the race. Voters seem to have made up their mind early about the president, one way or another.

In the final weeks. Mr Trump doubled down on his economic focus, mocking Mr Biden for listening to scientists and warning that the Democrats’ lockdown would stifle a recovery.

By the end of the race, Covid-19 cases were surging again, with daily case counts hitting record highs.

The president went on a final rally blitz, hoping to drive up turnout among his supporters enough for a shock comeback victory.

Hours before polls closed, Mr Trump, who would be watching the results from the White House fortress, pred dicted a “tremendous” night. But he w was also circumspect.

“Winning is easy,” he said, with the f fate of his second term unknown.

“Losing is never easy. Not for me i it’s not.”