Superannuated candidates

Whatever be the opinions for or against him, there is no doubt that by November this year, it is most likely that former US president Donald Trump could be making his third attempt for a second term in the White House. It may be recalled that in the November 2020 US presidential elections, when all post-poll surveys indicated a win for Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Trump refused to accept the verdict and instead, rallied his supporters for an armed insurrection directed at the United States Capitol Building in Washington. Trump continues to march through Republican primaries, seemingly unstoppable as he vanquishes one candidate after the other. Trump is being challenged by Indian-born Nikky Haley who was his US Ambassador to the UN. Trump is on the cusp of a stunning turnaround. With commanding victories in the first two 2024 nominating contests and wide polling leads in the states ahead, Trump is fast closing in on the Republican nomination. Already, he is the first nonincumbent Republican to win the party’s contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Haley’s own state of North Carolina where she was the state Governor. Trump also has the largest victory margin in Iowa caucus history. Trump did all this while facing 91 felony charges that range from mishandling highly classified documents and conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election and paying off campaign funds to a porn star during his 2016 campaign. Trump has been a controversial figure and still does not care. He was banned from social media and became the first US president to be impeached twice. When he had to accept the poll verdict, Trump departed Washington but the nation’s capital was still reeling from his supporters’ violence and resembled a security fortress with boarded-up storefronts and military vehicles in the streets. For Republican voters, the mounting charges confirmed Trump’s loudly stated grievances that the system was rigged against him, is instead driving many who had been considering other candidates, to rally around him. “It made him a victim, and nobody’s better at playing the victim than Donald Trump. Speaking on Veterans’ Day in November last year, the former president vowed to “root out” his liberal opponents, drawing backlash from historians who say his rhetoric is reminiscent of authoritarians. Trump also called those on the other side of the aisle “vermin” and suggesting that they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China or North Korea. Recently, Trump said he’d let Russia do ‘whatever the hell they want’ to NATO countries that don’t pay enough for defence. His remarks at a rally in South Carolina drew criticism from the head of the trans-Atlantic alliance, who said they could put the lives of American and European soldiers at risk. He also described the Iran-backed terrorist Hezbollah as “very smart”. From all accounts, the Republican party should have no second thoughts about rejecting Trump. However, despite being labelled a sex predator, autocratic, narcissist, borderline sociopath and exhibiting poor IQ and vocabulary; somehow the Republican Party seems to be sticking by Trump. In a post November 2024 presidential election , the US, it stares at a scenario where it could see Joe Biden having to step down due to senile dementia if he is re-elected or the law finally catching up with Trump for various offences.