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I have only once watched a US daytime talkshow. In my defence, I was severely incapacitated at the time. Rachael Ray, or whatever the fuck it was, proved a suitably bizarre experience: for instance, the audience would cheer madly whenever the host said the word “bacon”. Funnily enough, the dulcet sounds of meat frenzy were less than welcome to this grimly hungover vegetarian (fine, pescetarian – it still counts, okay?), and I am in no hurry to repeat the experience.

The US media is weird. US politics is also weird. And these two facts are closely related. The media is weird because it’s so big, with such a vast array of choices. People have the option of listening only to the media outlets that conform to their existing views, and from there, they are often sucked into an echo chamber that spirals them out towards the far limits of sanity to reside in any number of remote nutbag constellations, constellations so far from each other that reasoned conversation between their inhabitants simply breaks down.

If you’re a Democrat, it’s easy to believe that Republicans are evil if you never sit down and talk to any of them, and vice versa. As a result, US politics largely consists of combatants shouting at each other across a gaping chasm where logic once stood. In place of reasoned debate, we see a series of ritualistic postures and long-winded, meaningless platitudes. Candidates are elected primarily for their ability to invoke a set of symbolic buzzwords whose emotive appeal has lingered long after any real meaning has gone.

As politics has degenerated into pantomime, traditional journalism has been spattered about the room like a crazy person’s shit. Yet reassembling the faecal matter of public consensus has come from an unlikely source – comedy. Comedy draws people to forums they wouldn’t ordinarily visit, and while there, they can listen to viewpoints they wouldn’t otherwise consider. This is why, bizarrely enough, Jon Stewart is consistently rated the most trusted figure in the US media.

So whatever happens, don’t expect it to make sense. While it’s possible to frame the election in logical terms, this is an incidental, even eccentric pursuit, like mining Teletubbies for hidden meaning. What you can expect, though, is one hell of a show. Fox has unleashed its armada of crumbling grey suits and gormless Palinesque bints to take down the forces of reason. Keith Olbermann will pop up sporadically like a sullen, bitter meerkat. Stewart will debate Bill O’Reilly on October 6 – track it down online. And Obama will debate Romney on October 16 and 22.

Just sit back and enjoy it – after all, the world’s probably screwed either way.