Trump stokes fear. Biden and Harris can raise hope.

WHEN ALL the arguments between candidates are over, and voters have processed them, the emotions kick in. The decisive ones are fear and hope. At this profoundly raw, emotional moment in American history, the president of the United States has staked his future — and, therefore, the country’s — on fear. He has little or nothing to show in the way of tangible accomplishments. What would have been his strongest claim to success, a robust U.S. economy, has disappeared in large part due to his mismanagement of a pandemic. He seeks reelection through stoking fear and hostility toward a long list of enemies — racial minorities, immigrants, criminals, other countries and the Democratic opposition itself. In other words, he is doubling down on the strategy that got him elected in the first place.