Donald Trump His Tenure and the Coming Election
Background
The 2016 election is four years back. Time passes so fast that once again President Trump who won the 2016 election has to stand for re-election. Towards the end of this year, Trump will try for a second term as the US President. Many wonder whether he will be able to repeat his 2016 victory.
Trump was the dark horse in the 2016 election. Nobody gave him a chance, least of all the national press. All I can say is that luck was on his side and he won not only the Republican nomination but also got elected as president.
The national press and political commentators had written off Trump in the 2016 election. Despite Hillary winning the popular vote, Trump still sailed into the White House. The composition of the Electoral College worked in the favor of Donald Trump and this again will be his strong point in the coming elections. I have a gut feeling that he may lose the popular vote but still sit in the White House.
The American election process is a pretty long affair. The Democrats have not yet selected their candidate, though the field has been narrowed down to two. The two in reckoning are Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. There is a good chance that Biden will be the Democratic candidate but we will have to wait for that until the Democratic convention.
The last 3 1/2 years of Donald Trump's presidency has been a tumultuous period for America. There is no denying the fact that the American economy is on the upswing and the unemployment rate is the lowest ever. Also, Trump has taken some very difficult decisions abroad. He has thrown his lot with Israel and recognized Jerusalem as the capital. At the same time, he has applied screws by stopping funding for terror organizations in Gaza. He is the first president who has articulated 'radical Islamic terrorism'. He used these words even on his recent visit to India. No American president had ever used this terminology before. He is recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, which is something which no president earlier had ever contemplated. In that respect, it does show that Donald Trump can be a decisive leader.
He has also taken some very contentious decisions which have not been liked by many Americans. He has disengaged from Afghanistan and signed a peace accord with a terror organization- the Taliban. Earlier he created history by being the first president in almost half a century to have had a meeting with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator.
With all these points and a burgeoning economy, the question remains whether Trump will able to win the 2020 election.
The 2020 election
The 2020 presidential election is just a few months away and the entire world and America are keenly going to watch this election. This is an election for the world's most powerful appointment and whoever becomes President, will have a say in all corners of the world.
The coming election will decide whether the American people appreciate Donald Trump as president. His most likely opponent is Joe Biden. In case Bernie Sanders had become the Democratic nominee then I have no hesitation in saying that Donald Trump would have won hands down. It's a quirk of fate that Bernie Sanders for the second time is going to miss the Democratic nomination. Perhaps it is good for America because his left-leaning politics are now out of place in the modern world.
Joe Biden is going to be a formidable candidate. He's been hovering on the fringe for nearly 2 decades. This is his best chance to upset the cart of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump during his tenure has inflamed passions as no American had done before. His tweets some of them abject lies have entertained the Americans but when they vote they will have to think whether they would like the same sort of politics to continue or get a man with a fresh outlook.
In my opinion, the one thing that has gone against Trump is the spread of the Coronavirus. Many Americans I have met have said that they were not happy with the way Trump had reacted to the epidemic. Nobody can say what Trump should have done but there does seem to be some disenchantment on this account.
Winner takes all
The 2020 election seems to be in an acrimonious affair. The Democrats seem to be rallying behind Joe Biden and he looks a much better option and then Hillary was in 2016. Biden also has not much to offer except perhaps he will be not that acerbic as Trump.
It should not be forgotten that Trump has a strong far-right working-class white base. This could work in his favor as he has a committed vote bank. Joe Biden is the outsider and he will require more than luck to defeat Trump. Politics is a dynamic game and likes and dislikes change overnight. The election is still a few months away and as things stand Trump may win but there is a big question mark. In case the coronavirus pandemic is not controlled or Americans feel that Trump has failed on this account, no amount of a burgeoning American economy is going to save him. In that case, Biden who has nothing much to offer may well enter the White House.
