I never believed that it would happen again, that during my extended sojourn in the United States, I would have to witness the political resurrection of Donald J. Trump. Approximately a year ago, when he started threatening another run for the presidency, he reappeared in his usual uniform: the deep blue suit, the too bright red tie – that he constantly caresses- and the obligatory white shirt. All the colors of the American flag, just in case the audience forgets that Trump is America’s boy, the MAGA hat proclaiming his ideology, with a license to spread unlimited lies.  

We are now about eight months before the general elections, with America already impregnated with the squeals and screams of the former president, repeating his hallucination that he won the 2020 elections. He returns now, ready to take back what belongs to him, he says. So far, Trump has won five primaries in a landslide without even debating other Republican candidates; he is now ready to eliminate Nikki Halley, the last challenger, next week on Super Tuesday. This time, Trump, the insurrectionist, and defendant in four trials for 91 criminal acts, has chosen the courthouse s as the principal venue for campaigning. The courtrooms are his boxing rings, where he defies the prosecutors and challenges judges, projecting the image of a martyr to his voters and fans. Thus harassed, he says, by those (he says)are an evil establishment, Trump’s popularity grows, and he is, once again, on the nation’s front pages. Since the media is following his trials and court appearances, wondering if he will turn over half a billion dollars, the judgment penalty for the first two trials he already lost, Trump does not have to campaign much. He managed to transform his crimes and trials into efficient propaganda. With this tool, this clown manages to hold, for bad or worse, the entire country at rapt attention. His strategy consists of only one act: his hordes of lawyers are doing everything to postpone the trials and delay all the legal processes that could potentially prevent him from running for the White House. Instead of escaping from the country and justice, Trump has chosen a better strategy for escaping justice: conquering the Oval Office again. This time, the plan is to erase all the indictments and sentences against him. If, in 2016, Trump was trying to grab power and privileges, not to mention money, this time his aim is more modest. It is to defend his fake empire now that the country has called his bluff. His fanatical followers excluded, of course.  

This last week it was advantage Trump, thanks to a Supreme Court decision to hear his appeal requesting the application of presidential immunity to his involvement in the insurrection attempt on January 6, 2021. 

If Trump makes it to the general election, he will have to face Joe Biden, four years his senior. Age, in fact, is the only weak point of the current President, who has knowledge and experience that put him way above the challenger.

According to a recent Puck report, two years ago, David Axelrod, chief strategist of Obama’s presidential campaigns, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times in which he pointed out that Joe Biden’s age would be an impediment for a Presidential run in 2024. “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job,” wrote the subtle-minded strategist, adding that Biden, “who looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term,” underlining that Biden’s age would be a significant issue in his next presidential run. President Biden did not like what Obama’s trusted adviser wrote; he sent White House surrogates to chastise Axelrod, whom he called “a prick”.

Two years later, Axelrod’s words appear prophetic today, as Biden’s age, stiff gait, and memory lapses are in plain view for everyone. This time – and counter to the conviction that foreign policy has little weight in the general elections– voters at home and countries worldwide are watching with some fear. Quite a few of my friends are seriously considering leaving the country in case of Trump’s return. The authoritarian regime will, perhaps, not disturb the corporate world and so called money makers. But it will deeply trouble the highly skilled foreign citizens who are part of the important influx of a qualified workforce that for decades has made America rich and progressive.

Conversely, Trump’s return to office would crush the recent attempts to reestablish dialogue between the US and China. America’s Indo-Pacific and European partners would be forced to choose between China and a bombastic and disruptive United States. A year before the elections Trump has already announced the end of multilateralism, including the promise that he would withdraw the U.S. from  NATO, inviting Putin to attack European countries without Atlantic defense. Besides the dog barking, the most consequential yet subtle difference for the world may be one of diplomatic practice and style. In the world of foreign policy, this matters a lot. And it will likely impact Europe the most, according to the Magazine FP, which calls Biden the most Atlanticist president the United States has seen since the Cold War. Trump, by contrast, continually accuses Europe of free-riding on the back of U.S.largesse. 

None of today’s big problems, whether the COVID pandemic, Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Middle East slaughtering, or climate change, can be resolved without international cooperation. Unfortunately, no country could praise itself with far-sighted, strategic, progressive, uncorrupt, or democratic leadership. The same goes for the United States. There is no doubt, if I could vote in the U.S., that I would go for Biden however old he is. But I would be much happier if Biden- in theory, there is still time to do it – would renounce power and let the younger generation take over. Do I see a candidate? Are the Democrats capable of convincing Grandpa Biden to step aside and let someone more vigorous to take over? At this moment, my answer to all these questions is negative.