As the nation prepares to go to the polls to elect the 45th president of these United States, two flashpoints may determine the outcome.

The first is Islamic terrorism.  It was almost funny to listen to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio inform us that a bomb set off in the Chelsea district wasn’t terrorism, although it was an “intentional act.”  When a second bomb and several other bombs located at a train station in Seaside, New Jersey, were linked to the Chelsea incident, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo corrected the mayor, saying it was terrorism—just not “international” terrorism.  When the perpetrator was apprehended hours later, he was carrying a notebook describing his devotion to the jihadist cause.  The governor had no comment.

Why are our “leaders” blinding themselves to a reality that any ordinary human being can see?  The threat identified by Donald Trump is clear as day: The problem of Muslim immigration must be faced.

The jihadist bomber, Ahmad Rahami, was born in Afghanistan, joined his asylum-seeking father in the United States in 1995, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2011.  Since then, he made several trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan.  His notebook cited “Brother Osama Bin Laden,” ISIS leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the Tsarnaev brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, and terrorist cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.  “The sounds of bombs will be heard in the streets,” Rahami raved: “Non-believers” should be murdered right in their own “backyard.”

That same day, another Muslim went on a terror spree in a Minneapolis mall: 22-year-old Dahir Adan, a naturalized citizen born in Kenya, had lived in the United States for 15 years.  Before each stabbing, this “soldier of Islam”—as ISIS described him—asked his victim if he was Muslim and made repeated references to Allah.  Eight people were stabbed—all survived.

The second flashpoint is racial terrorism.  Major media have referred to the race riots in Charlotte, North Carolina, as “protests,” but they’ve been nothing of the sort.  A video of a group of African-Americans stomping a lone white guy in an underground parking lot shows exactly what is going on: stores looted, windows smashed, a CNN reporter thrown into a burning pile of trash by “protesters.”  This is mass hooliganism—nothing more, nothing less.

The riots were sparked by the shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott by police: His family has claimed he was just “reading a book” when police ordered him out of his car.  Police say they observed him smoking pot and brandishing a gun; his family denies that he had a gun.  No book was found in the area, but a gun was.  Scott—with numerous felonies on his record—was wearing an ankle holster.

During the “protests” 26-year-old Justin Carr was shot.  The “protesters” immediately blamed the cops.  Shortly afterward, one of the “protesters,” Rayquam Borum, was identified as the shooter.  Both Borum and Carr are African-American.  Borum is a convicted felon who served three months in a county jail for larceny and for breaking and entering.  He is also facing weapons charges previously incurred as well as murder charges for the killing of Carr.

What went on in Charlotte was a criminal bacchanalia, and while Hillary Clinton has been defending the rioters (“We have two names to add to a long list of African Americans killed by police officers.  It’s unbearable, and it needs to become intolerable,” she tweeted), Trump has called for an end to the violence and support—albeit not blind support—for the police.

The second of Mrs. Clinton’s “two names” is 40-year-old Terence Crutcher, shot by a female police officer who is now being charged with first-degree manslaughter.  Officer Betty Shelby shot Crutcher for reasons that remain unclear.  Trump’s response was to question the ability of Shelby to do her job: “She choked,” he said, and this “should not have happened.”

This clearly differentiates his approach from Clinton’s: While Trump makes distinctions based on particular circumstances, Clinton makes blanket statements that have little to do with the facts.  Hillary Clinton has consistently given voice to the rhetoric of victimization and race-baiting that has fueled violent “protests” throughout the country.  Trump, on the other hand, has clearly stated that these “protests” are expressions of pure criminality and that they won’t be tolerated, should he take the White House.  While Clinton looks forward to the importation of over 100,000 Muslims—Syrians made homeless and stateless by her regime-change campaign in that war-torn country—Trump has said enough is enough, and events have proved him right.

This country is facing attacks from without by Islamists, and attacks from within by a race-baiting fringe.  Will the American people put up with it?

If the answer is no, then Donald Trump will be inaugurated in January.  If the answer is yes, then we may expect the violence to continue, and increase.