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Trump or "Trump with a brain"? USA expert Brockschmidt fears: "As before or worse"

2022-08-16T07:40:42.326Z


Trump or "Trump with a brain"? USA expert Brockschmidt fears: "As before or worse" Created: 08/16/2022, 09:29 By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld Donald Trump's comeback? The former President speaks at a rally. © Morry Gash/dpa Donald Trump is said to want to run for president again. But danger threatens him from within his own ranks. However, Trumpism could live on without the ex-president. Washingt


Trump or "Trump with a brain"?

USA expert Brockschmidt fears: "As before or worse"

Created: 08/16/2022, 09:29

By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld

Donald Trump's comeback?

The former President speaks at a rally.

© Morry Gash/dpa

Donald Trump is said to want to run for president again.

But danger threatens him from within his own ranks.

However, Trumpism could live on without the ex-president.

Washington - Is it a comeback if one was never actually gone?

Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election - and the Republican Party seems to remain firmly in control.

The fear is that the Grand Old Party (GOP) could choose him as their candidate for the US election in 2024.

The FBI's raid on the former President's residence, unprecedented in US history, sheds light on this.

Instead of distancing oneself, expressions of solidarity hailed from Republican circles.

The anger is directed against the FBI and the judiciary - not against an ex-president who himself threw his own members of Congress to the violent mob when they stormed the Capitol.

Instead, the Republicans sense the opportunity to mobilize the party base before the congressional elections in the fall, the so-called midterms.

Even if that means strengthening Trump again.

According to the motto: power over morals.

But he's no longer the Republican Party's only promising candidate.

The name Ron DeSantis keeps coming up.

The Republican governor of Florida is courted as an alternative - also by Fox News, Trump's former home and court broadcaster.

The former Trump pupil and right-wing politician is currently running for re-election in Florida.

According to CNN, “Trump with a brain”, as the 43-year-old is sometimes called, managed to raise a record amount of more than $100 million for this gubernatorial campaign – and that from major Republican donors.

The fact that the hearings on the events of January 6, 2021 are beginning to take effect also suggests that the Republicans could opt for him.

The January 6 Committee revealed how close US democracy came to a coup - and how willing Trump was to incite mob violence.

According to a recent poll by the

New York Times

, if the presidential primaries were now among Republicans, just under 50 percent would vote for Trump.

So the former US President could foot the bill with dwindling support.

US elections 2024: Joe Biden is in crisis – and Donald Trump would currently win in the poll

But whether Trump or DeSantis: the times are good for the Republicans to regain strength, because Joe Biden is ailing.

Many voters are expected to choose the Republican Party in the midterms – and the Democrats will lose a razor-thin majority in Congress.

The Republicans are already slowing down Biden's agenda to an almost complete standstill.

To speak of bumpy months would be an understatement, Biden is in a crisis.

The approval ratings are falling, the promised departure has not materialized.

Instead, the problems keep piling up.

The recent historic breakthrough in the climate, social and tax package in the US Senate, which provides for unprecedented investments in climate protection, gives hope.

A success for the Biden government – ​​after several attempts.

Is that enough to turn things around?

Questionable.

As recently as mid-July, the

New York Times

published a poll that 64 percent of Democrats want a different candidate for the 2024 US election.

Just who is that supposed to be?

The natural choice would be Vice President Kamala Harris, but so far she is unconvincing.

There is currently no one else in sight.

In addition, the Democrats are divided, with the moderate and the left wing facing each other seemingly irreconcilably.

In contrast, the Republican Party is united behind Trumpism – with the exception of less upstanding politicians such as Liz Cheney.

Power over morals.

This is based on the right-wing view that 'the left', with their alleged 'wokeness' and their secularism, poses a much greater threat to America than a president who, in the worst case, wants to install an authoritarian regime.

Annika Brockschmidt

If Trump were to become a presidential candidate again, even the Republicans who testified against him in the parliamentary investigative committee would vote for him, says USA expert and author Annika Brockschmidt

FR.de from IPPEN.MEDIA

.

Brockschmidt: "This is based on the right-wing view that 'the left' with their alleged 'wokeness' and their secularism pose a much greater threat to America than a president who, in the worst case, wants to install an authoritarian regime."

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Annika Brockschmidt

Annika Brockschmidt (born 1992) is a German author, journalist and podcaster (including "Kreuz und Flagge") with a current focus on religious rights in the USA.

She studied history and German at the University of Heidelberg and War and Conflict Studies at the University of Potsdam.

Her bestseller, “America’s Warriors of God: How the Religious Right Endangers Democracy”, was published by Rowohlt-Verlag in 2021.

According to this logic, the Democrats represent the greater danger for the “real America”, says Brockschmidt.

The Republican Party wants "some form of rule by a white, Christian minority." At the same time, society in the USA is becoming more and more diverse;

the number of Republican voters is falling – and the GOP is ready “to install ever more extreme measures and ever more extreme leaders in order to get the upper hand,” says Brockschmidt.

Trumpism also works without Trump: "Ultimately, it doesn't really matter who is at the top"

So even an attempted coup is no reason for many Republicans to refuse to support Trump.

This brings back memories of his famous statement that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and still not lose a single vote.

But all of this is linked to Trump continuing to mobilize the masses.

If Donald Trump doesn't deliver anymore and support for him in the electoral base dwindles, maybe he could sink into the annals of history after all.

Without his MAGA fans, even Trump is nothing more than an old, white, angry man at a golf resort.

But that doesn't mean that Trumpism is disappearing - and couldn't live on in the shape of Ron DeSantis.

If we remove Trump from the equation, we don't have the solution to the problem.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who's at the top.

The result will be: Same as before or worse.

Because I trust a Ron DeSantis, at least intellectually, more than a Donald Trump.

Annika Brockschmidt

Trumpism works without Trump, Annika Brockschmidt also observes: "If we remove Trump from the equation, we don't have the solution to the problem.

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter who's at the top.

The result will be: Same as before or worse.

At least intellectually, I have more faith in Ron DeSantis than in Donald Trump.”

About IPPEN.MEDIA

The IPPEN.MEDIA network is one of the largest online publishers in Germany.

At the locations in Berlin, Hamburg/Bremen, Munich, Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart and Vienna, journalists from our central editorial office research and publish for more than 50 news offers.

These include brands such as Merkur.de, FR.de and BuzzFeed Germany.

Our news, interviews, analyzes and comments reach more than 5 million people in Germany every day.

Comeback Donald Trump: Avoid evading criminal prosecution and reap midterm success

Ironically, Trump is threatened with promising competition from his own ranks in his attempt to retake the Oval Office.

As is well known, from the point of view of the ex-president, there is only room for Donald Trump next to Donald Trump.

It is therefore almost certain that Trump will announce his renewed candidacy for the presidency instead of stepping aside for a younger candidate like Ron DeSantis – renowned US media such as the

Washington Post

,

New York Times

and CNN agree on this.

The past has shown that Trump is more than willing to drag down his own party, including the United States, in his quest for prestige.

The burning question is therefore rather: Will Trump announce his candidacy before the midterms?

In fact, it would be very unusual to throw your hat in the ring so early.

But Donald Trump has never been guided by norms.

"Trump has already toyed with the idea of ​​announcing his candidacy before the midterms to his closest circle," says Brockschmidt.

"His strategy would then be to take the place early and hope that no one dares - or it will be as catastrophic for the challengers as it was in 2016."

Trump could also incite a candidacy to turn away from possible criminal prosecution, since a US President enjoys immunity.

So the raid on Mar-a-Lago could even speed up the announcement of his ambitions.

Even running again could slow down the judiciary and cause Trump to portray every investigation against him as a political intrigue.

And then there's the tempting prospect of taking the Republican Party's likely midterm success to his own account.

As he did in connection with the disturbing development of the Supreme Court, it was Trump who installed the right-wing judges who now dominate the US Supreme Court.

Power over morals.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-08-16

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