Former US President Donald Trump is, not surprisingly, the frontrunner for the Republican Party’s nomination for the US presidential election of November 2024 to challenge the White House occupant, Mr Joe Biden. A little over 50 per cent of the Iowa caucus vote was for Trump, setting him on his way to the nomination though his ineligibility to be on the ballot in some states is yet to be settled legally.
Opinion polls may show that nearly a third of Republicans have moral and ethical misgivings over a candidate who is in denial of the fairness of the US elections. More importantly, he is a criminal defendant who faces the prospect of time in jail, if convicted, even if he is in the Oval Office by then.
Mr Trump presents unique and unwanted credentials for a candidate with three indictments who faces serious charges of inciting the January 6 (2021) insurrection at Capitol Hill, attempts to overturn the 2020 election, hoarding classified documents and several sexual assault lawsuits, besides investigation into his business accounting practices that boosted assets to facilitate greater borrowing from banks. And yet most conservative Republicans want him as their leader, candidate and, possibly, President for a second term.
It was the French President Emmanuel Macron who said he takes the leaders that people give him and the world would learn to deal with any elected personality from a democracy. As a tradition-smashing US President for a term, Mr Trump may have done everything to demolish established practices in diplomacy, trade, and public life. Even so, he is in a position today to project himself as God’s choice to guide the United States and as the chosen one would make ‘Make America Great Again’. There are acolytes aplenty who can make the anticipated presidential race with Mr Biden mighty close.
There is a school of opinion that Mr Trump, famous for the character he played on a reality TV show, evolved into a populist showman who believes he can stay in power indefinitely, and to do which he is prepared to encourage lawlessness and that the Constitution must change to accommodate his every whim. He has promised to be a dictator at least for a day if he attains office. More than half of American voters may still vote him to be the President and the world would then have to beware as he plots retribution for the restraints put on his first term.
