When Hillary Clinton wins the US presidency on Wednesday our time, post-war global history will change course yet again. Congressional Republicans, having failed to choose a viable candidate, will seek to mire America’s first female president in hearings, inquiries and, if some get their way, impeachment proceedings. Moderate Republicans – an increasingly rare and endangered species – may want to respect the people’s verdict, but their own positions will come under threat from the party’s hard right if they refuse to participate in the anti-Clinton insurgency.
Democrat members of Congress, having again heard the message of the people, will double down in their opposition to trade liberalisation. At a time when the global economy desperately needs US leadership, Congress will abrogate its responsibility to show it.
Yet so bizarre has US politics become that there is a slim chance of a pro-trade initiative emerging from the Republican Party’s visceral hatred of Clinton; they may support the Trans-Pacific Partnership if President Barack Obama puts it up during the lame duck period, just to spite Clinton.
