Donald Trump is working on his comeback as US President. Right now, successor Joe Biden seems weaker than ever. Who is stopping Trump?
When we looked at pictures of Donald Trump for the front page in the editorial office, a reflex came over us: we wanted to silence him. Shots that showed a large plaster over the mouth that usually roars “America First” were very popular – “Isn’t that what we all want?” whispered a colleague.
But this wish will have to remain one. Donald Trump is not gone, although he now resides in a peach-colored house in Florida instead of the White House in Washington. He hasn’t fallen silent, even if the short message service Twitter blocks him. And for many, he is by no means unelectable, just because it just came out that this man did not shy away from a coup after losing the 2020 presidential election.
Donald Trump was never really gone. He wants revenge and will soon declare his candidacy again. Admittedly, some in his party do not consider him the ideal candidate. They are counting on fresh hopes like Republican governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. Only: He doesn’t insult quite as loudly, he’s not so obviously in love with himself. But his political ideas are surprisingly similar. Even if Trump were no longer running, Trumpism would be on the ballot.
USA: Joe Biden looks weak
And the Democrats? Joe Biden is not even leading badly, for example he has positioned the West against Russia. But he’s 79 and looks older, he falls off his bike in front of the cameras, botches his speeches, and he can’t get inflation under control and his big projects like more climate protection can’t get through Congress. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, who probably had the journalist Jamal Khashoggi sawed up and therefore called Biden a “pariah”, he now welcomed very confidentially. America needs cheap oil, so Biden needs Saudi Arabia again. Anyone wishing for a more morally reliable US foreign policy: good luck!
Trump also became possible because many in the US underestimated how much globalization has divided our societies into big winners and bitter losers. Barack Obama, who started out as a social worker, also pushed this forward and today, as a multiple millionaire, lives like a globalization world star. When Obama celebrated his 60th birthday, just as America was being torn apart by the corona crisis, he invited so many superstars that even a well-meaning New York Times columnist called him completely out of touch.
Of course, this is not comparable to the pictures of Christian Lindner’s wedding, which Friedrich Merz and Olaf Scholz attended and which we critically covered in our cover story last week. Some remarked afterwards that Lindner only got married in an upscale fish stall on Sylt, something like that was completely normal. Might be. But all of us in public (politicians as well as journalists) have to ask ourselves in this “turning point” what is normal for those who feel really left behind – and with all the right to their own enjoyment, pay a little attention to the staging. We made this title to commemorate this, not because we are jealous, and certainly not because we don’t want to give the Federal Minister of Finance a nice celebration. Very many of you have dealt with it, many agreeing, many critical. So we were right in the middle. And that’s where the star is in the right place.