I think it's really evident that a long time in public life has exposed both Clinton and Trump to all kinds of sleaze.
Trump is a different sort of character, though, a privately awful, venal and unpleasant human being it seems, whereas on the other hand both of them are clearly manipulated by their donors, their alliances, and their extremely cynical strategists.
I think if Clinton becomes President it will be a historic moment, the world's most powerful elected official will be a woman. I'll cheer that if and when it happens, and that's despite all the abominable things she has been involved in in the past, as Secretary of State and First Lady.
I do not accept these tortuous efforts to exonerate her for stuff she has done, nor do I buy into all the stuff about her personal qualities of resilience etc justifying her leadership. These aren't good people in a bad system, they are themselves incredibly implicated, damaged. They are just a fucking mess, people for whom power has become a raison d'être.
As far as the US is concerned, I think US citizens' disappointment and frustration is going to continue to build. We're getting to the business end of a long period during which it has become more and more apparent that our politics can't regulate our economies. No President can change that without much larger, wholesale changes, not even if they happen to have the influence in the Senate and Congress all at once.
"The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born" etc. It's going to be a messy time and the thing to watch for in the medium term is how the rhetoric which Trump used successfully, anti-migrant, protectionist, racist, finds its way back into the mainstream. The next moves of the GOP leadership after Trump loses will be of great interest. Trump's been a specially awful candidate, but I think the unhinged, schizotypal character of the "debate" in the US will continue and get even worse in some respects.
