‘Create a monster that turned against him’

There is plenty of evidence that Donald Trump is announcing today his intention to return as President of the United States in 2024. But this moment could hardly be worse: Even within his own party, support for him is collapsing. We call America Reporter Maral Noshad Sharifi.

Trump promises to make an “important announcement” today. Do you think he will officially run for president in 2024?

“The opportunity is great. He’s been hinting at his candidacy for months. Last Saturday, in Pennsylvania, he said in a speech that he would. I think Trump’s plan has always been to wait for the midterm elections and then announce the decision on his candidacy.”

“But the midterm election results It caused a lot of tension for Republicans. Many of the candidates that Trump supported did not do well. These were generally radical candidates with a lot of notoriety, but little political experience. You could say that the results show that many voters are done with this way of doing politics.”

How did that change so quickly? Not long ago, many were convinced that only Trump was the Republican Party.

I think the Republicans thought we needed Trump to win the election. Now it turns out that they could lose the election because of him. His candidates have gone too far in his ideas.

Trump has created a monster that has turned against him. After the defeat in the 2020 election, he could think: Why did we lose, and what could we do better? But by spreading those elections and making the web of lies bigger and bigger, a point may have been reached where people think: Our democracy is in danger.”

Wouldn’t it be wise to delay announcing his candidacy, say, until after the second round of elections in Georgia next month?

“He would look weak if he let himself be affected by the election results, having clearly alluded to his candidacy. He doesn’t want to talk about it, he wants to present the party with a fait accompli: You are with me or against me. In addition, he also wants to show the other names Republicans have mentioned that they haven’t gotten rid of. distance “.

Then one more thing, about investigating Trump’s role in the storming of the Capitol. Why shouldn’t he testify today as he was supposed to?

Trump has been called to testify several times before, and the commission has forced him to. He should have been questioned on Monday, but he sued to get out of it, or at least buy time. This has to do with the results of the midterm elections. The Republicans have already announced: If we have a majority in the House, we will end the Trump investigation. There is a good chance that the majority will come.

The committee then has until the end of the year to complete its investigation. The longer Trump buys time, the more likely he is to get away with it. Politically, then, because this investigation is separate from any criminal investigation with him.”

At the beginning of your position as a reporter, a year ago, it seemed that the United States had entered a spiral of extremism. Given the midterm election results, has this development stalled?

We’ll have to wait and see what conclusions the Republicans themselves draw on this outcome. It’s also important to note that Republicans are likely to get a majority in the House, so they haven’t lost that hard.

But in the end, many Americans actually voted with the idea that their democracy is in danger. I must say: I didn’t understand that from the conversations I’ve had in the country over the past few weeks. Lots of people started talking about inflation. They may not see the Republicans alone as the party to solve this.

The Biden era has not been easy. One in three Americans still believes he is not a legitimately elected president of the United States. Trump gasped, forced to extricate his country from the pandemic, and war broke out in Ukraine, driving up inflation. At the same time, she notes, Biden’s decades of experience in Washington also bring stability, and that Americans are looking for him. In this sense, the midterm election results are reassuring to many people. Americans say: We are not at all as radical as Trumpists hope.