Presidential nominee Donald Trump and his hordes of supporters say only God saved the former president from the bullet of a would-be assassin. Picture: Brendan McDermid/Reuters
REPUBLICAN presidential nominee Donald Trump and his hordes of supporters say only God saved the former president from the bullet of a would-be assassin.
Trump is not known for his personal public declarations on religion or his Christian faith. Thus, to invoke God’s intervention in his greatest hour of need has been a markedly profound statement.
And, as the Trump presidency looms in the wake of the November 6 elections, a plethora of warmongers in the West are shivering in their disheartening fear and trepidation.
In the Oval Office, the greatest fear is Trump tearing off the cantankerous foreign policy of the Biden administration.
A mere five days after surviving an assassin’s bullet that pierced his right ear, Trump was triumphantly delivering an acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee.
Hundreds of Trump supporters in the RNC covered their right ears with a white plaster in solidarity with Trump, who had had his right ear plastered after his near-death experience a week ago.
They wore the white bandages like a badge of honour in an unequivocal show of support for America’s 45th president that polls forecast will also become the 47th president of the US come the November elections.
Under his mantra, “Make America Great Once Again”, Trump’s foreign policy position is inward-looking. But more importantly, unlike a host of Western leaders in Nato and the G7, Trump has no appetite for war.
The stance creates panic among the “establishment”, whose neo-liberal imperial objectives have led them to believe the international world order is unacceptable if it is not characterised by its ideological bias.
The US is going through a pivotal moment in its history. Trump has survived much onslaught from the CNN-led mainstream media and the Biden administration since 2020 when he lost the election to Joe Biden.
He has survived impeachment and nearly 100 criminal charges aimed at killing his political ambition.
A Trump return to the White House looks a lot more certain, enabled by the shambles that engulfs the Democratic Party of Biden.
Talking about President Biden, a section of his party no longer want him as their presidential nominee. The recent dismal showing in a television debate with Trump has left Biden struggling to recover from the reputational damage caused by his underwhelming performance.
Never in recent memory has a party in power turned so publicly against its incumbent attempting to go for a second term of office.
Following repeated criticism from the Democrats, Biden is looking increasingly frail and incoherent, causing his detractors in the Republican Party to allege that he suffers from dementia, a claim Biden’s personal doctors have dismissed.
The chaos in the Biden camp, a few weeks to November 6, has made a more difficult campaign an impossibility to beat Trump in November.
As Covid forced him to self-isolate this week, testing positive could not have happened at a most inopportune time. It added to the growing political isolation and loneliness that Biden has begun to feel. Fate can be unkind.
Trump’s hand-picking of his running mate, JD Vance, 39, has sent the clearest signal about the looming changes in Washington’s foreign policy towards Nato and the support for Ukraine, which has become a magnet for US-led Russophobia.
Trump says that had he been in power, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin would never have attacked Ukraine. He has vowed to end the Ukrainian conflict within days of his re-election, long before the inauguration in January 2025.
Such utterances have created panic among the US Democrats and warmongers in the EU. They can see that for the possibility of a full-blown war with Russia, the end is nigh.
The US Military Industrial Complex is also shaking in fear as the return of Trump looms large. The continuation of the Ukrainian war in particular has kept their coffers going strong.
War is good business for the influential stakeholder in the US politics. The longer it continues, the more they make hefty profits. Unfortunately, Trump does not believe in throwing the US into the global conflict.
Neither does he believe that the US must be Nato’s piggy bank. For far too long, liberals, such as the Democrats in Biden’s party, have excelled in waging wars.
Former Democratic president Barrack Obama was at the forefront of attacking and murdering Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in around 2011.
America’s penchant to trigger military conflict in far-flung places is legendary. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is another example. So, too, is the 20-year-old military occupation of Afghanistan that ended in a monumental failure. It is such tendencies of the Washington establishment that Trump loathes.
It is for this reason, therefore, that Trump’s return to the White House should be celebrated by all the peace-loving people of the world.
A Trump presidency bodes well for global stability. It is a presidency that would be good news for international peace.
As he delivered his acceptance speech this week, the first public speech since he survived an assassination, Trump appeared humble and calm. His unity message will probably woo undecided voters.
The choice of JD Vance could prove to be a masterstroke in the swing states such as Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and Colorado.
Trump had personally re-written his acceptance speech after the attempt on his life. He deleted frequent referral to Biden, the “Crooked Joe” as he likes to mock him.
As Trump prepares to return to office, the political changes would not only be felt in the US. His authority and aura would be felt throughout the world. Europe would be the biggest losers of a Trump presidency.
They know. No more US-funded wars. I guess the EU and Nato would struggle to readjust from a war-mode to peace. But then again, peace is what the international community deserves.
Peace is a commodity that only Trump can deliver, much to the sigh of relief for millions whose appeals for an end to wars have fallen on the arrogant, deaf ears of the powerful warmongers of the West.
* Abbey Makoe is founder and editor-in-chief: Global South Media Network. The views expressed here are his own.