Editorial: US at an epochal crossroads

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event.

Anyone who saw the television footage of (mainly black) protesters clashing with (mainly white) Donald Trump supporters at recent Trump rallies in the United States would be forgiven likening it to clashes during the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 60s.

Suffice to say we probably have not seen such polarisation of America since those days.

There has been much talk of a revolution in the US from both ends of the spectrum. The so-called Washington Establishment (the hierarchy of both Democratic and Republican parties) is being targeted by disgruntled conservative and liberal Americans who want change.

Some on the one side think Vermont Senator and avowed socialist Bernie Sanders is the man for the job while many conservatives believe the only person to stop Hillary Clinton (who seems assured of the Democratic vote despite Sanders' popularity) is the brash celebrity billionaire Donald Trump.

While the rest of the world is aghast that Trump has made it this far and seems likely to get the GOP nomination, more and more Americans seem to think he can "make America great again".

Trump certainly knows what to say and gets away with slogans rather than well-thought through policies. He promises to undo what he believes is all the wrong President Barack Obama has done and to make America feared and respected again.

The problem is that when one sees the fervour, jingoism and blind loyalty of his followers to the man, one does wonder what would happen to our world with Trump as US President.

It is enough to make any right-thinking person shudder