You can adore it or deplore it, but it is difficult to ignore the four-yearly mix of politics and Hollywood that constitutes the United States political convention season.
These gatherings of the banner-waving Republican and Democratic party faithful, at which they celebrate the coronation of their chosen presidential candidates with ticker tape and fireworks, are a unique expression of the US political tradition.
This year, like so much else, the events were constrained by the limitations imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. Joe Biden""s Democrats took the event online, while Donald Trump bent electoral rules by using the White House as the backdrop for his bid to secure a second presidential term in November.
The more profound change this year, however, was in the tone of the rhetoric, which went beyond the usual partisan claims and counter-claims to include allegations from both sides that the other was working to undermine the country""s democratic system.
Against the background of protests in a number of cities against the police killings of black men, Trump claimed that the unrest was part of an organized coup d""etat against him.
The same charge has been levelled by his opponents, who have denounced Trump""s moves to limit mail-in votes in November, and his hints that he would not accept the election result if it did not go his way.
This unedifying spectacle would be of marginal concern to the rest of the world if it were happening in the kind of vulnerable, developing country still struggling to chart its course in an era of instability.
But political developments in the US, because of its economic dominance and global reach, are the most closely watched by non-US citizens outside their own countries.
Who occupies the White House really does matter to the rest of the world in terms of policies on issues such as international trade and global cooperation to tackle global problems.
Even governments who in the past criticized what they regarded as US interference in the affairs of other states have nevertheless lamented the country""s apparent retreat from its international obligations during the Trump presidency.
While the US""s foreign allies may have been silently wringing their hands at political developments across the country, broadly, they have broadly to the convention of not commenting on the international affairs of friendly states.
France""s President Emmanuel Macron went further than most when he expressed the need for the US to play a different role on the world stage than it had under Trump. But he fell short of saying whether or not he would like to see Trump re-elected.
In the US itself, however, domestic commentators have faced no such constraints in waging an increasingly vitriolic media and cultural war.
Trump has employed his frequently used Twitter account to give credence to right-wing online outlets that promote conspiracy theories and reinforce his claims of a left-wing plot to unseat him.
Meanwhile, the traditional liberal media, harried by Trump""s accusations that any negative facts they might report are inevitably "fake news", have effectively abandoned their non-partisan traditions in the face of a confrontational White House.
Summing up the Republican convention, one commentator in the venerable New York Times wrote that it was an "alt-reality show" without a platform or ideas, geared to spur primal fears among weary voters. "And it may work," author Tomothy Egan conceded.
He was reflecting concern that this year""s dysfunctional and abrasive convention season failed to provide any guidance on the likely outcome in November.
Democratic challenger Biden has been ahead in a variety of opinion polls, but wary Democrats note that the same was true of his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
His lead has also narrowed in recent days as Trump played the law and order card, by highlighting urban unrest, even though some of the violence could be tracked to his own vigilante supporters.
Democratic strategist Michael Gordon was among those who encapsulated his party""s response when he wrote: "Trump is not the law and order President. He is the lawless and disorder President."
The Democrats fear that the law and order message may allow Trump to coax back supporters who had been alienated by his mishandling of the novel coronavirus crisis.
Their worst-case scenario is that Trump will fail to recognize the outcome if the November election gives Biden a narrow win. Trump has already prepared the ground by alleging, without evidence, that mail-in voting opens the way to extensive voting fraud.
Challenging the vote would spur a major constitutional crisis after a presidency in which the US""s neutral arbiters such as the courts and the federal bureaucracy have been stuffed with Trump""s partisan nominees.
What would be a crisis for the US would also be deeply concerning for the rest of the world, which relies on US engagement in tackling global issues. But, as with the conventions, we non-participants are destined to just watch events unfold, perhaps crossing our fingers for luck as we do.