US presidential election between hugely disliked people: Pundit

​Press TV has conducted an interview with John Steppling, author and playwright from Inderoy, Norway, about the US presidential campaign.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: How do you see what’s happening in the United States, because it is very unusual actually for example Trump has become basically it seems that he will become the Republican nominee, but of course that’s not likely as for Sanders? Why do you think we’re seeing this very unusual move and the two agreeing to debate each other at this point in the situation?

Steppling: I think you’re right that it has been a very unusual campaign season. It’s going to be an unusual election. I never believed personally that Trump was going to stay in this race. I suspect that his getting the nomination as quickly surprises even him. Hillary was the presumptive next president and that was, I think, everybody’s assumption. And nobody anticipated just how bad a candidate she is and how disliked she is. So at some point, I suspect what you’re going to see is a pivot from Sanders once he realizes that he has lost the nomination to enthusiastically supporting Hillary.

Press TV: Why haven’t we seen that move already made, because mathematically speaking actually Sanders cannot actually win, of course, we have the whole super delegates and that’s a whole another story, but overall he cannot win. Why haven’t we seen him step away already?

Steppling: I think that it’s cover for just how unpopular Hillary is. Sanders is the populist candidate. He is the feel-good story. He is kind of the liberal imperialist instead of the hawkish imperialist. He’s still an establishment figure, but he has an enthusiastic following. Sanders’ supporters are exaggerated in their campaigning for him and so forth. The longer he stays in the race, I think, actually the better it is for Hillary. You have to understand this is an election between hugely disliked people. It will be interesting to see what the turnout is, because it could very well be very low.

Press TV: At the same time that we have seen actually a lot of interest in so far of course during this whole nomination process, because of course of the very extreme nature, some would say, of the individuals involved. There seems to be a lot more interest and usually for American elections. How do you see, one quick final question, you said that you never thought, you would see Donald Trump actually getting the nomination, as you said, many others felt the same way. What are the key reasons in your perspective that Donald Trump has done as well as he has?

Steppling: He kept into a huge reservoir of white working poor resentment anxiety. He has given people a white underclass permission to express their xenophobia, their bigotry, their racism. And it’s hard to take him seriously. And I sometimes wonder if his supporters take him seriously. This is not an overly intelligent guy or particularly articulate guy. So I think it’s the politics of resentment.

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