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Sarah Churchwell, Jan Halper Hayes, Larry Sanders, Niall Ferguson and Serena Kutchinsky

The Newsweek Debate: Is this the most unusual American Presidential election in history?

Hay Festival 2016, 

Just a year ago, the US Presidential race looked set to be a dull affair, dominated by two political dynasties – another Bush versus another Clinton. Now, the stage is set for one of the most unusual, and unsettling, electoral battles in American history. After Obama’s campaign of hope, we have Donald Trump’s scaremongering bid to become the Republican nominee, and Hillary Clinton’s scandal-tinged final stab at the Democratic nomination. Is this really the best that the nation that calls itself the ‘world’s greatest democracy’ can do? And if the answer is yes, is it time to start looking for an alternative political system better suited to the social media age? Newsweek will dissect the chain of events that has led us here and speculate on what the future might hold for the next Commander in Chief. Joining Digital Editor, Serena Kutchinsky, will be Larry Sanders, the academic and Green Party Health Spokesperson, who is the older brother of the US Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders; Sarah Churchwell,Professor of the Public Understanding of the Humanities and Professorial Fellow in American Literature, IES School of Advanced Study, University of London, Harvard Professor and author of Kissinger, Niall Ferguson, and Jan Halper Hayes, the Worldwide Vice President and Chairman UK of Republicans Overseas.

Sarah Churchwell, Jan Halper Hayes, Larry Sanders, Niall Ferguson and Serena Kutchinsky