The Christian Science Monitor

Conventions raise curtain on a campaign like no other

Call it the Disruption Election.

As political convention season opens this week – with cheering crowds weirdly absent and most events virtual – America is hurtling toward a presidential vote like no other. It comes amid a historically tumultuous year in which a pandemic has upended much of normal life, a recession has shuttered large parts of the economy, and protests have changed the way many citizens view racial relations and the police.

On the ballot will be an incumbent who was already perhaps the most disruptive U.S. president of modern times – and proudly so. President Donald Trump has broken so many political norms over four years it’s hard to keep track.

Democratic challenger Joe Biden will figure in the outcome, of course. He has so far run a low-key campaign, portraying himself as a traditional presidential figure who won’t

November still a good way offA politically difficult fall

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