To ask if Donald Trump could actually be president again?

[tinkertee]

I've just seen a headline about him now being the front runner for the Republican nomination. Which I assume means it's entirely a possibility that he could then win.

I'm British (English) so I know our current government is a complete embarrassment. But I will never get my head around DT having been president once never mind possibly twice.

How could this happen??

A big problem is the Democrats not offering an alternative. Biden running again is a huge mistake.

70% of Americans don't want either Biden or Trump as candidates.
https://www.businessinsider.com/poll-americans-dont-want-a-biden-trump-rematch-in-2024-2022-1?op=1

Not going back to post on Ted Cruz but looks like the next state primary has gone to Trump

‘Donald Trump can now boast of being the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states began leading the election calendar in 1976.’

Fairly desperate to go back over 50 years without any context, which was a tripling of the oil price.
Just imagine the impact on the UK/World economy if oil went from $80 barrel to $240?
This is what led to the IMF loan & Lab had only been in for 2 years at the time.

Plus lets look at Tory incompetence? Liz Truss, ERM, Libya, Brexit.... all arguably more damaging to the UK.

What was/is the point of all the civil and criminal cases against Trump? I know some are ongoing but still. Seems to me like they have little to zero meaning or effect on Trump's abiity to stand for President if he wins the primaries.

That puzzles me a lot.

Democrats would rather lose to Trump than offer working people healthcare. They could beat him easily, if they wanted.

And how would they make that happen with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives and a very narrow majority in the Senate?

Do you really think they would rather lose to Trump?

The government has no control over a private citizen filing a civil case against Trump. And your question about the criminal cases seems to assume that the only purpose they serve is to prevent him from running again. If he committed crimes, and it seems abundantly clear that he did, not charging him undermines the rule of law. Former presidents are not above the law.

And like a stopped clock, he was occasionally correct. Some NATO members completely took the piss by cutting defense spending to ridiculously low levels, assuming that the Americans would ride to their rescue if they ever needed saving from the Russians.

That has been very detrimental to military readiness and the political strength of the alliance.

You win the prize for the most sensible comment on the thread today. 😁

He can stand for election whatever happens to him in the way of being found guilty or even imprisoned, but as many as forty per cent of Republicans seem to be saying that they don't feel they will be able to vote for a convicted criminal. (Presumably now that he has been convicted of sexual assault they may be having a bit of a revulsion about him.)

And a fair few (43% of Haley's supporters in Iowa, I think it was?) are asserting that they won't vote for him no matter what happens in the way of convictions.

(Presumably now that he has been convicted of sexual assault they may be having a bit of a revulsion about him.)

Not exactly. He was never criminally charged with sexual assault, so he can't be convicted of it. He was found liable in a civil suit for sexual abuse and defamation. The standard of proof in a civil case is more lenient than that in a criminal case.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-trial-columnist-carroll-4974ef026f3da61bc6f1b7ddda3ad10e

I do agree that if and when there are criminal convictions, it will peel away a lot of voters. Many will just not vote at all.

Don't forget the Republican vote is not enough alone, the winner always has to attract independents and others to get over the finish line. Unfortunately Biden is also very unpopular and voters think they are both too old to run
Biden could win like last time, with more voters voting AGAINST Trump than because they like Biden. It was a case of "anyone but Trump".

Unfortunately polls have been showing they are head to head in 2024.
elections2024.thehill.com/national/biden_trump_general

It is frighteningly likely that he will win the republican nomination and that he will win the election. I lived in the US in 2020/21, we lived in what is considered a blue state. But we did not have to drive far before all the signs changed from Biden to Trump.. literally a few miles out of town and we were in Trump country.. it was very bizarre.

What I would say is that unless you've spent time living in the US, you will probably never understand people's attraction to him (and even then it's still hard to grasp). Having said that, there are many Americans who will be devastated if he gets elected again. And yes as other PPs have said, in a country of nearly 335 million people, it's staggering that Trump and Biden are the best they can offer. It doesn't make any sense.

I'd be keeping an eye on the VPs. Either will take over if the President dies, becomes incapacitated etc. Maybe they are the ones to watch, given the ahem "seniority" of both candidates (if Trump gets on the ticket).

Yes that's exactly the reason Vivek is sucking up to Trump, to shuffle into the VP position or get a post in cabinet. But I think Trump feels very threatened by him so I don't know if that would happen, unless Trump does it to stab him in the back. Vivek deserves all he gets if he aligns with Trump however.

$83.3 MILLION

Ahahaha!

Still amused by all the non-Americans here just SOOO positive that Trump will win.

He won't.

Haley has HUGE former Trump corporate donors throwing mad cash at her, because they feel like she's at least sane, and manipulatable, now that the dumb rich fuckers saw that Trump is a pure Id wild card.
She won't win either, but she's doing a great job at eroding Trump support, by calling out his syphilic decay. She won't even get the nom, unless he shits himself, falls down, and dies on live TV (not unlikely) but even then, she's a brown woman, so NO CHANCE with the cult.

EVERY HIT weakens him - even with his eroding MAGA cult base. There's not enough of them, and even they are getting tired of him losing, and not getting all their batshit conspiracy theory free money/death squads/med beds utter fucking nonsense that's been promised FOR YEARS.

It's fucking GLORIOUS.

Trump won't win.

Do you mean Trump won’t win the Republican nomination or he won’t become president? I have a feeling he still might become president, despite tonight’s news that he’ll need to pay damages to E Jean Carroll.

Oh, he'll get the Republican nomination, unless he dies, and even then enough idiots will write him in to completely fuck everything up.

He won't be President.

Do you think Biden will be president instead? I feel like people have had enough of Biden.

Curious - are you American?

I follow Heather Cox Richardson on Twitter and Facebook. She is an historian and political commentator. Very, very informative

I started following her during covid at the height of Trump's lunacy.

Thoroughly recommend her

https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson

Big fan of HCR too. :)

No I’m not, but I just have the impression from reading/watching the news that people are fed up of Biden, which makes it easier for Trump to get in.

I think tonight’s news that Trump will need to pay the damages to EJC will only help to reinforce his claim that he is a ‘victim’ and is being pursued by people who hate him and have an agenda - if anything, I think it’ll benefit him (which is horrible).

Yes, I am in the US and Trump was fading away and noone was thinking of him but all these court cases have been giving him tons of free publicity and to be rehabilitated as a man persecuted by the establishment ( in his narrative).

I don't think the Dems understood that there is no such thing as bad publicity with a narcissist, they just love the attention and take the air out of the room. He was becoming a has-been and they helped reinvigorate him and his base.