As when Donald Trump organized boxing matches with show promoter Don King in his Atlantic City casino, the poster for the 2014 election match will have something of a “fight of giants”. To the right of the ring, even to the far right: Donald Trump himself who, like Sylvester Stallone stripped of his title in Rocky III, intends to prove to the face of the world that he has lost none of his hypercut to belt one last time the belt of world champion. Left: Joe Biden, defending champion, confirmed this Tuesday, April 25 what everyone already knew. “I am a candidate for my re-election,” assured the 80-year-old American president in a video message posted on Twitter, opening with images of the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“Let’s finish the job,” Joe Biden said, emphasizing the ongoing fight he believes for freedom and democracy.
Joe Biden’s team, which has just appointed its campaign manager in the person of Julie Chávez Rodriguez – a White House adviser and, also, the daughter of a famous Californian trade unionist – is in place. Their campaign is likely to be more complicated than four years ago. Because the majority of Democratic voters would have preferred another candidate, younger than the current president, who celebrated his 80th birthday in November. For lack of a credible alternative despite the surprise candidacy of Robert Kennedy Jr (an “antivax” whose smoky theories are disapproved of by the Kennedy dynasty), they are however preparing to line up behind Biden because blocking Trump is in their eyes more essential.
The outgoing president’s record is not bad. “He will argue that he has restored prosperity despite continuing economic uncertainty and inflation fears,” he said. New York Times. It will focus on passing laws to inject billions of dollars into infrastructure, climate and health care. And he will take credit for restoring alliances abroad in this time of global tensions.”
Trump was indicted
If the Biden team is in place, the same is not true in the Republican camp where uncertainty and confusion reign. After being indicted last month in the Stormy Daniels case (this “adult film” actress had secretly received $130,000 during the 2016 campaign to keep her past affair with Trump quiet), another trial for rape opens today against the one who is now a new candidate. Under a 2022 law that extends the statute of limitations, E. Jean Carroll, 79, accuses Donald Trump, 76, of raping her in the 1990s in the dressing room of the lingerie department of a New York department store, after seeking the advice of this journalist, whom he knew, to give a present to a friend.
Other trials could still open against Donald Trump in the weeks and months to come, in particular for his role in the riots in the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and, moreover, for the pressure exerted on the organizers of the elections in Georgia in 2020 – he wanted them to “find him 11,000 extra ballots”, which would have reversed the ballot in his favour…
Ron DeSantis, the alternative to Biden?
Despite these repeated setbacks, the polls continue to give Trump the advantage among Republicans, which outdistances the other declared candidates (ex-governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, ex-governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson) and undeclared (Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Vice President Mike Pence, African-American Senator Tim Scott). However, his solid electoral base does not seem to allow him to convince enough Americans to become president again one day. Conversely, Ron DeSantis, crowned with his good record in Florida (a booming state) and, also, because of his young age could represent a winning alternative against Biden. The Conservatives are aware of this. But DeSantis, lacking political oxygen in the face of Trump who monopolizes the media space, has still not declared himself a candidate. Maybe he’s just biding his time.
The impression of chaos and doubt among Republicans was further accentuated yesterday April 24 with the surprise dismissal by Fox News of Tucker Carlson, the channel’s star host whose vitriolic political program broke all the records of audience for six years, despite or thanks to his pro-Russian, pro-Viktor Orban positions and his on-air accusations against the electoral system which allegedly “stole” the election from Trump in 2020. By his incendiary brilliance and his cynicism – his text messages, revealed in the context of a defamation trial, prove that he did not believe for a moment in the fable of electoral fraud – Tucker Carlson was in the best position to galvanize the Trumpist electorate.
The surprise ousting of the ultra-right star host – whose ratings were sinking that of CNN – leaves the Trump camp orphaned. On the conservative channel Newsmax, the ex-president said he was “shocked and surprised” by this news. “Tucker has been great. He’s been, especially over the past year, great for me,” the ex-president acknowledged. If the departure of Tucker Carlson is the first big surprise of the 2024 campaign, it is certainly not the last.