The Bottom Line

Wade Davis: US social and political landscape points to decay

Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis says the US empire is showing major signs of decay.

In an interview recorded days before United States President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Canadian-American social anthropologist Wade Davis argues that both Biden and his rival Donald Trump “ought to have stepped off the stage a long time ago”.

Davis tells host Steve Clemons that there is no question that the 20th century was the American century, but the question now is, “Who’s going to rule in the next century?”

With Americans on the left and right demonising each other, there is no room for a middle ground, and the country has become unrecognisable to many Americans, says Davis.