A ceasefire for Trump

We are now in the business end of the US presidential elections calendar. Hillary Clinton is the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, ahead of the convention in July. There’s been no let-up in the campaign’s intensity with Donald Trump aggravating many with his misogynist, racist, anti-minority rhetoric and offensive posturing. Usually at this stage, the assurance of Democrats gets stronger since a combination of white liberals, minorities and women is enough to swing the race in most states but this time Mr Trump’s populism is finding a lot of resonance with the white working-class, which is struggling amid the economic downturn. Ms Clinton’s problems are compounded by the popularity of Senator Bernie Sanders, whose Left-wing platform has given him cult status among young people. The Clinton-Sanders contest has been an intense one with the latter drawing attention to the former’s connections with the big banks and his accusation that she is too much in hock with the oligarchy that controls Washington to be able to implement the redistributive policies he has in mind.

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A lot therefore depends on Ms Clinton and Mr Sanders mending fences. Both the leaders met for two hours on Tuesday in an effort to bridge the difference. Mr Sanders is yet to formally endorse Ms Clinton but both campaigns have spoken about the need to stop Mr Trump. This subplot will have an important effect on the nationwide coalition that emerges to challenge Mr Trump. Mr Sanders secured 12 million votes as compared to Ms Clinton’s 16 million. The problem for Ms Clinton, as a New York Times/CBS poll found, is that 28% of Mr Sanders supporters do not want to vote for her.

US President Barack Obama gestured to Mr Sanders’ importance during his endorsement speech for Ms Clinton, when he praised Mr Sanders for shining a spotlight on economic inequality, the influence of money in politics and for bringing in people to vote. Mr Sanders offers Ms Clinton the chance to connect with young voters, clarify her agenda and make the Democrats’ offering a lot more distinctive from the Republicans than it has been. Ms Clinton has to choose between competing values of consistency and adaptability.