The events of the last few days, both in the poll results and in public response to the candidates, has convinced me that if the election were held today, it would be very close. Over the next few weeks, a variety of random events could swing it decisively against Clinton, while nothing Trump says or does seems to reflect negatively against him, or concern his supporters.

There’s a very good chance that by next year we will live in a country where climate change is officially dismissed as a traitorious plot, and people who believe the world was created in 6 days 6000 years ago will dominate the high councils of government. It will be a nation where the business community will have veto power over all legislation, where the New Deal will be systematically dismantled, and where education, health care, justice under the law and the dignity of labor will be available only to those who can afford the price of admission.

I’m not saying this is going to happen, or even that its likely to happen. I’m just saying that for the first time in my life I have lost all confidence it can’t happen.

We would have a good chance of surviving the first, no matter how it worked out for Trump, while the second would start in motion a cascade of catastrophic events from which the country would never recover. A bad Trump Presidency would simply be blamed on him personally, not his ideology; while a Clinton failure would reflect badly on her political philosophy instead.

A successful Clinton Presidency would never be described that way by her critics. Look at the way the Bush II and Obama administrations are now remembered by the Right.

Either way, I’m looking forward to this one. From the point of view of an amateur historian, its going to be a doozy, no matter who wins.