Donald Trump, the once and potentially future president, has signaled that a second term under his leadership would be even more disruptive and turbulent than his first. His return to the political arena comes after his unsuccessful attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and amidst a series of criminal and civil trials that threaten his personal liberty and fortune. This sets the stage for one of the most consequential elections in American history.
Trump’s disregard for democratic institutions poses a severe test to the country’s political, legal, and constitutional safeguards. His potential return to the presidency could send shockwaves around a world still recovering from his volatile leadership and affinity for autocrats. It also sends a warning to Ukraine, a nation fighting for its survival.
Trump’s campaign strategy is far from traditional. He paints a dystopian picture of America, overwhelmed by lawlessness, urban decay, and on the brink of World War III. He promises to purge internal enemies, seek revenge on political adversaries, and positions himself as a strongman, conflating his personal and political interests with those of the nation.
Trump’s vision of America is not Ronald Reagan’s “shining city on a Hill.” Instead, he portrays it as a failing nation in decline. He blames unnamed individuals for the country’s problems and promises to “demolish the deep state,” expel warmongers, globalists, Marxists, communists, and fascists, and “drain the swamp.”
Trump’s message resonates with many Republicans, disillusioned by a federal government that presided over draining foreign wars, financial crises, the flight of blue-collar jobs abroad, and a pandemic that further shattered trust in institutions. Trump has deepened this national estrangement by successfully convincing millions of voters that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s win was illegitimate.
Trump’s legal troubles, including nearly half a billion dollars in outstanding civil judgments and four looming criminal trials, have been spun into a narrative of political persecution. This is yet another example of Trump’s talent for creating compelling alternative realities that his opponents often find it almost impossible to counter.
The upcoming general election will see Trump, 77, facing off against an 81-year-old incumbent, Joe Biden, who has had a successful tenure by conventional standards. The economy is healthy, unemployment is low, growth is strong, and the US is outperforming most industrialized nations. Biden has also reinvigorated and expanded NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However, Biden’s popularity is waning as high grocery prices and rent are robbing Americans of the normality that the president promised to return to them after the pandemic. Trump is capitalizing on Biden’s failure to fix a border crisis, stoking fears of a migrant invasion that could dilute America’s White social culture. Biden’s perceptible aging also raises questions about his fitness for a second term.
Trump’s second term promises to be the most extreme in modern history. He has called for the termination of the Constitution, unchecked power for the presidency, gutting the civil service, and using the Justice Department as a personal political enforcement machine. His rhetoric and actions suggest a second term far more extreme than the first.
The upcoming election, a rematch between two flawed candidates, could change the character of the nation. Americans must now face the reality of the election that many have long dreaded.