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8 months ago
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Americans are bracing themselves for yet another rematch between a “bungling” Joe Biden and a “dangerous” Donald Trump.
With Trump, 77, storming ahead in the Republican primary elections, the US is set to witness the duelling pair – who are both old enough to be PM Rishi Sunak’s grandad – wield their swords yet again.
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AFPBut experts fear that another rematch between Trump and Biden, 81, will see violence erupt on the streets once again – as the world saw with the 2021 Capitol Hill riots – and America edge “ever closer to a civil war”.
It will be the most “toxic, violent and brutish” presidential election in America’s modern history, experts told The Sun, with both candidates trying to convince the public that they are the “least bad option”.
Alan Mendoza, the Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society think tank, told The Sun: “It will be nasty, brutish and long. We’re going to have months of the two of them taking chunks out of each other.
“We are going to see a race to the bottom with these two trying to convince the public that they are the least worst option out there.”
Mendoza warned that if the election turns “really nasty”, both candidates could fall victim to death threats.
“And there will be a fear that someone might try and take a potshot at one of them during a presidential campaign run,” Mendoza said.
TOXIC BATTLE
Professor Anthony Glees, a security expert from the University of Buckingham, told The Sun that a Trump v Biden rematch would “most toxic presidential election in modern times”.
Glees said that a key factor in the presidential campaign – and on the mind of all Americans – is that the combined ages of Trump and Biden is 158.
Trump will use the fact that Biden is four years his senior – and his embarrassing blunders – as ammunition for his compaign and try to use it for his advantage, he added.
Glees said: “Trump’s charisma is so well suited to the television screens – his orange face, his blow dried hair. All of this has a huge impact.
“And that will be compared to a very, very elderly Biden with a frozen face and all the difficulties that come with being his age.”
Mendoza agrees and says Trump will try to weaponise Biden’s older age – but not without the current president fighting back.
He said: “Biden does come across as quite doddery. So Trump’s main argument will be that Biden has lost it and is past it whereas Biden’s argument will be ‘Trump isn’t sane either’.
“It’s going to be a very toxic race. They will take jabs at each other until the presidential election.”
And those personal attacks have already started. Today, Trump branded Biden as the worst president in US history as he vowed to take the country back.
Trump has stormed to victory in the Republican primaries and left his rival Nikki Haley’s campaign in tatters, meaning the former president is all but confirmed as the party’s presidential nominee.
Haley today officially suspended her presidential campaign while refusing to endorse Trump.
Glees said Trump will be on a “crusade” to win the presidential election – four years after he falsely claimed that Biden had “stolen” the election without providing evidence.
The former president will be travelling around in his prized $100million Trump Force One against the same backdrop and with the same closeknit circle.
Glees said: “Trump’s campaign will be so different from what Biden and the Democrats have in mind.
“It will be like a revivalist meeting with a cult leader who can do no wrong,” Glees said, pointing to the unwavering support Trump has received from his supporters despite facing 91 charges across four separate cases.
KEY DATES IN PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Here are the key dates in the US presidential race to keep an eye out for.
March 12: Primaries held in states of Georgia, Mississippi and Washington
March 19: Primaries held in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio
July 15-18: Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the party formally chooses its candidate.
August 19-21: Democratic National Convention in Chicago, where the party formally chooses its candidate.
November 5: ELECTION DAY
January 6: INAUGURATION
AMERICA FIRST
And if Trump does win, the repercussions will ripple across the Atlantic to the UK.
Glees said. “For us here in the UK, the implications of a Trump presidency are horrendous because of his America-first crusade.
“All he’s interested in is domestic policy and making money. This kind of populist crusade domestically means that we in Europe and the West will feel far less safe.”
Glees pointed to how Trump had said the Brexit vote was a “wonderful” idea but “didn’t lift a little finger” to produce that all important free trade deal between the US and UK.
He explained: “And he won’t do it if he’s elected again this year because he’s America first.
Glees said the likes of Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will be “happy” if Trump is elected given his lack of support for Nato.
He explained that if Trump is elected, it would weaken Nato and leave Europe vulnerable to a Russian attack.
Glees said: “Above all, we have a security threat in Europe of a resurgent Putin who is about to be re-elected.
“And I think that’s the real danger at the moment – that eastern Europe will be overrun or threatened by the Russians to such an extent that Nato will begin to disintegrate.
“And as we know, Trump himself has no interest in a Nato that doesn’t pay its 2%.”
VIOLENCE ON STREETS
For those back in the US, a Trump win could have devastating repercussions as the “Democrats won’t take this lying down,” Glees said.
But if Trump does lose to Biden, we could see a repeat of the 2021 Capitol Hill riots – especially if he refuses to accept the election result again, the experts said.
Glees said: “The possibility of civil war in America has edged closer. Trump refuses to accept that he lost the 2020 election so will he and his followers accept the result if he lost in 2024?
“People might feel like ‘we ain’t seen nothing yet’.”
Mendoza said if Trump does win, Americans could see far-left thugs from Antifa come out onto the streets and spark violent protests.
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