World

Back with a Bang: Trump’s Domestic Power Surge Alarms Global Leaders…

Back with a Bang: Trump's Domestic Power Surge Alarms Global Leaders

Only one Republican nomination race for 2024 was won by Donald Trump. Thus far. Thanks to his overwhelming victory in the Iowa caucuses and his continued lead in national primary polls, the former president’s political influence is on the rise.

Using the notion of political persecution to his advantage, Trump has revitalised his otherwise lacklustre run for president by referring to his numerous criminal prosecutions.

Republican politicians in Washington are once again being dictated terms by his power, as they shape legislative stances to support his campaign and dance to his tune on matters including as government spending, immigration, and Ukraine.



To avoid alienating Trump’s fans, his surviving primary opponents, Nikki Haley (former governor of South Carolina) and Ron DeSantis (current governor of Florida), are tactfully increasing their attacks on him on the campaign trail. However, they are focusing their fiercest attacks on January 6, 2021, and his threat to democracy. While Haley’s chances of defeating him in a first-round state primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday are higher, the state’s electorate doesn’t reflect the other nominating battles.

As European leaders worried that their worst nightmare about a Trump 2.0 might be coming true, a cloud shaped like Trump hung over the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. A president who shook up the globe could be back in the Oval Office in one year and a day. Business titans were starting to comprehend this prospect. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation—which has essentially become a testing ground for a possible second term in office for Donald Trump—stepped into the lion’s den of a wealthy Swiss alpine resort on Thursday and, in a manner that seemed to annoy some in the crowd, laid out the hardline agenda for the incoming Trump administration.

For Americans, Trump’s promise to focus a second term on “retribution” casts an ever-larger shadow. These worries intensified after Trump’s Thursday post on Truth Social, in which he called for presidents to have “full and absolute” immunity “even for events that ‘cross the line.'” An ex-president claiming in an appeals court that he cannot be imprisoned for attempting to reverse an election is a frightening example of unbridled power.
Anxious to the core

Some Democrats are concerned about Trump’s intentions to pursue a strongman presidency. It was this week that Vice President Kamala Harris admitted she was “scared as heck” that Trump could win the election in November. Ironically, President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign is banking on the resurgence of the stifling anxiety that, in the eyes of some of his critics, defined his tenure in office. Biden should probably be careful what he asks for, considering that Trump’s influence will grow with each primary vote he receives and that his campaign is better organised than in 2020 and 2016.

Trump’s unwavering connection with GOP base supporters and his continued influence among Republicans on Capitol Hill have always been noteworthy characteristics of a president who was rejected after only one time in office. But Republicans, particularly in the US House of Representatives, are getting more and more organised to support Trump’s political agenda and increase his chances of winning the election. Senators attempting to negotiate an immigration compromise with the president are encountering a snag: Trump, according to AWN’s legislative team’s report from Thursday.

Some Republicans worry that the former president’s stance on the border crisis, which he has made a campaign issue, would prevent Republican senators from supporting a bipartisan solution. Republican senator from North Dakota and Trump supporter Kevin Cramer stated, “It makes it harder because there are a lot of people that take their lead directly from him.”

The attempt by Biden’s administration to acquire tens of billions of dollars in financing for Ukraine is also being jeopardised by Trump’s influence behind the scenes. If re-elected, the former president has promised to put an end to the war within a day, but only under conditions that benefit Putin, the president of Russia whom he admires and who invaded his neighbour without provocation over two years ago. Congressional Ukraine Caucus co-chair and Democratic lawmaker Mike Quigley of Illinois claimed on Wednesday’s AWN Max show that Trump was a covert agent. According to him, Republicans are reluctant to support a supplemental for Ukraine because they are afraid of upsetting candidate Trump and his supporters. It is the immigration clash that the White House is using to stall the aid measure, which many Democrats now see as a mistake.

It’s possible that Trump’s demands on Republican senators are reaching well beyond their intended targets. First, because to the funding delay for its lifeline, Ukraine is compelled to deploy outdated equipment on the front lines and restrict ammunition supply. On top of that, it gives Putin a strategic edge, ensuring that the war will go on until early 2025, when a new US president may be resistant to providing aid to Ukraine.

Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Moscow under Obama, stated, “He thinks time is on his side.” Among those affected by the delays in aid, who is the happiest? Russia Today is airing. Every night, these propagandists gush about how fantastic this is. During a webcast hosted by Spirit of America, a non-profit that collaborates with US troops and diplomats, McFaul expressed uncertainty about whether Trump, if re-elected, will end up aiding Putin. “But that is the hope in Moscow, I can tell you without a doubt.”
More and more Republicans are endorsing Trump.

The surge of Republican lawmakers endorsing Trump this week, even though the primary contest is almost done, is another evidence of his growing influence at home. This week, Cruz and Rubio, two senators from different states who had previously criticised Trump—Trump being referred to as a “snivelling coward” in 2016—supported their former adversary.

The Republican Party’s attempts to remove Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas from their positions as secretary of homeland security are also influenced by the former president. In addition, a number of Republican senators and representatives, including Trump supporter and House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has been open about his dislike for Trump, have joined a petition requesting the US Supreme Court to reverse the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court that removed Trump from the state’s ballot.

There were far-reaching effects from the former president’s historic victory in Iowa, the cold Midwest first-in-the-nation state, where he received more than half of the vote. After Trump repeatedly shook the transatlantic relationship while in office, this development has particularly troubled Europeans.

A Trump redux was on everyone’s mind in Davos, which every January welcomes world leaders from the banking and financial sectors, think tanks, and corporate and political heavy hitters.

The posh ski resort still remembers Trump’s 2020 visit with distaste, when he was trying to bolster his populist “America First” credentials before the world shut down due to the virus. In his first term, he criticised American allies for failing to adequately fund their own defence, engaged in numerous trade conflicts, rejected the nuclear agreement with Iran, and withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord. That won’t even come close to matching what he’ll face upon returning to the White House.

European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde had already warned that a Trump reelection would pose “clearly a threat” to Europe before the private plane even took off for Switzerland.
It is insulting. It can’t be tolerated.

Roberts of Heritage provided one of the clearest explanations of possible Trumpism in a second term, making him one of the most interesting invitees at Davos.

“The kind of person who will come into the next conservative administration is going to be governed by one principle, and that is destroying the grasp that political elites and unelected technocrats have over the average person,” he said during a session on the shape of the next Republican administration.

“And if I may be honest, I will mention that the agenda that each and every member of the administration should have is to make a complete inventory of all proposals made at the World Economic Forum and to voice strong opposition to each and every one of them,” Roberts continued.

“It is a palpable emotion,” Roberts said later in a conference call with reporters, describing the profound fear he saw in Davos at the thought of a potential Trump presidency. I am afraid. I find it snarky. I can’t stand it. Roberts stated that the world’s wealthiest people fear Trump poses a threat to their power and also threatens to depose them, which is why they attend Davos.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom at the forum. A possible silver lining for bankers in a second Trump administration is the possibility of reduced corporation taxes. According to Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan who had disagreements with Trump while he was president and has since pushed for financial backing for Haley, the policy aims of Trump’s followers and certain accomplishments of Trump’s tumultuous administration were being undervalued. When it came to NATO, he was somewhat correct. When it came to immigration, he was somewhat correct. The economy flourished under his watch. He told CNBC that tax reform had been successful.

Despite Europeans’ preference for Biden, there is a growing understanding across the Atlantic that they might end up with Trump instead of Biden after months of denial. According to Philipp Hildebrand, a former head of the Swiss National Bank and current vice chairman of BlackRock, “It may also be the wake-up call that Europe needs” (AWN). “We must discover a means to gain some independence and become less reliant on any one power, be it the United States or China.” “It is a threat that worries people to a great extent, but it can also be perhaps a wake-up call,” he remarked in reference to Trump.

In launching a charm offensive that resulted in Trump being welcomed as a guest of honour to the Bastille Day Parade in Paris, President Emmanuel Macron displayed traditional French strategic pragmatism before falling out with Trump. Voters in the United States will have to make a decision before the year ends. This is the same philosophy that I have always held. When the people give me a leader, I follow them. At Tuesday’s news conference at the Élysée Palace, Macron assured reporters that he would serve France and her interests.



Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Most Popular

To Top