The 2020 U.S. presidential election will go down in history as a sign of the U.S. democracy's deepening crisis. The ongoing problems are not just about Donald Trump's unusual presidency or the popularity of Trumpism.

The U.S. election is over. Contrary to expectations, there was no landslide in the elections. There was no blue wave and there was no overwhelming victory of one candidate over the other. The major losers of this election are again the pollsters. It turned out that the Democrats were right to have anxiety over the polls as they demonstrated a solid and consistent Democratic lead in major key battleground states. There will be a lot of evaluations and assessments of the election results. My initial observations include the following.

Provided that the incoming president will take over on Jan. 20, 2021, the transition period is expected to be painful if Trump loses the election. The elephant in the room is not unknown: Even if Trump were to lose, what he stands for (let’s call it Trumpism) remains influential among American voters.

There have been ongoing debates about the U.S.'s declining relevance in regional crises over the last several years. Although the U.S. administration has consistently reiterated its interest in the developments across different regions and expressed certain positions on regional crises, its effectiveness in determining the outcome of these crises is in constant decline.

The presidential elections in the United States are a significant concern for almost all international actors, including Turkey. What is happening in the globe's superpower and biggest economy affects practically every country in the world.

The second U.S. presidential debate took place on Thursday in Tennessee. The disastrous first presidential debate between the two candidates lowered the bar, with some calling for the cancellation of future debates and many analysts declaring it the lowest point in U.S. politics.

The 2020 election is going to be one of the most significant in recent history for the U.S. Earlier this column examined the several reasons why this is such a critical election year for America, including the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic crisis and deep divergences in the worldview of the two candidates.

There are only 25 days left to the most significant and consequential elections in recent U.S. history. Mail-in and early voting have already started across the country. According to the latest statistics, almost 7 million people have already cast their ballots, which signals that this could be the election with the highest turnout in U.S. electoral history. It seems that instead of suppressing voting, COVID-19, through mail-in and absentee ballots, may increase the voting in many states in the U.S.

The aftermath of Nov. 3, however, remains a mystery for U.S. politics. The current level of uncertainty is arguably unprecedented. As the Turkish saying goes: Live long enough and you'll see everything.

Last week in this column, I wrote about how important the debate between two presidential candidates can be, not only for the United States election but also for the country's standing around the world.

Analysts regard the debates as the last opportunity for candidates to change citizens' voting preferences and thus presidential candidates make painstaking efforts to prep themselves beforehand.

With the U.S. elections five weeks away, the fight over the presidency keeps getting nastier. This is not your average disagreement between Republicans and Democrats. Even labels like globalist and patriot have long been overused. Nowadays, President Donald Trump’s critics claim that he will destroy American democracy if he gets four more years. If Joe Biden wins, others say, China will own the United States.

Turkey called back its research vessel Oruç Reis to port in order to support efforts by Germany and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to facilitate dialogue with Greece. As Ankara and Athens continue to exchange statements, tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean will be discussed at the Special European Council on Sept. 24-25.

During a meeting with the editors of The New York Times seven months ago, former U.S. Vice President and current Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden labeled President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan an “autocrat” and criticized Turkey for its constructive relations with Moscow and policies over northeastern Syria.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s plan to remove Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan from power went down in the history of Turkish-U.S. relations. The fact that he made that statement some eight months ago does not make the situation any less grave. After all, those controversial words were not uttered by an inexperienced presidential candidate with no idea about foreign policy. Biden, who was President Barack Obama’s vice president, unveiled a thought-out and clear policy on Turkey.

For years now debate has raged in Washington, D.C., about anti-Americanism in Turkey. Various reports and analyses have pointed to it as the biggest spoiler of the bilateral relations between the two countries.

In the U.S. presidential electoral campaigns, there are several critical turning points that determine the fate of the elections. The three presidential debates and the announcement of the vice presidential candidates are among the most important of these turning points. These moments are considered some of the key junctures where the presidential candidates can make some changes in their campaign trajectory. Although many scholars have asserted that the presidential elections are primarily about the presidential candidates and the candidates for vice president do not matter much, the selection process and the announcement of the vice presidential candidates generate a lot of discussions and increase the focus on the campaigns. The vice presidential candidate selection is an opportunity for the presidential campaign to put a message across to a significant group of electorates. The downside is it is a one-time shot, and the vetting and selection processes need to be carried out as thoroughly as possible in order to prevent mistakes.