Election game mirrors failure of US democracy

The chaotic 2016 presidential election has highlighted the defects in the US election system and the dysfunction of democracy. The "email-gate" uncovered by the release of the Democratic National Committee emails stunned the world, and showed that the so-called fair selection of candidates was anything but. Meanwhile, whether the outspoken and reckless real-estate mogul Donald Trump wins the race or not, he has irreversibly damaged US democracy already.

The email scandal revealed the black box of how party elites manipulate the presidential election, as it showed the party establishment and the Democratic National Committee violated the neutrality principle by working with the Hillary Clinton campaign team to help her clinch the Democratic nomination. For this purpose, they attempted to attack her rival Bernie Sanders' ethnic identity as a Jew. And they went so far as to plan cyberattacks on the supporters of Sanders. When the scandal was uncovered, the supporters of Sanders were furious but the candidate himself was calm, as if unsurprised by the shenanigans against him.

Meanwhile, the Democratic camp has made great efforts to defame Trump by highlighting his discriminatory words against women, the disabled and minority groups, his past bankruptcies, and his edgy temperament that the Democrats say make him unfit to be the president. Interestingly this is the very image he wants to present to voters.