Former US president Donald Trump had tried to reclaim the political spotlight by announcing his run for presidency in 2024, which will exacerbate US political division and violence, Chinese observers said. They believe that US political practices have tragically put the cart before the horse with the country and people spending far too many resources in the service of elections, rather than letting elections serve the general welfare of the American people.
Trump announced his bid for 2024 at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday. “In order to make America great and glorious again I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” he declared, the Politico reported.
The US is a nation in decline, and the decline is “being forced upon us by Biden and the radical left lunatics who are running this country into the ground,” Trump said.
Just as Trump was making his announcement, US President Joe Biden tweeted that “Donald Trump failed America.”
American media called Trump’s announcement an “extraordinary, although long anticipated move.” Politico said historically, only one other president, Democrat Grover Cleveland, left the White House and ran for a second term four years later.
In response to questions on China’s comments on Trump’s announcement, Mao Ning, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said at Wednesday’s media briefing that she was not going to comment on it as “this is the US’ internal affair.”
For Chinese observers, how far Trump will get in his bid for the GOP nomination is unclear with his too early announcement and multiple legal issues facing him.
Trump is still basically controlling the Republican party, which he would make full use of to try to snag the Republican presidential nomination for 2024. Mainstream support from within the Republican party will give Trump an edge in the GOP nomination, and this support ensures that potential runs by other Republicans such as former vice president Mike Pence, will not be a threat to Trump, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
However, Trump is mired in several legal issues including his activities during the US Capitol riots in 2021, the taking of confidential documents to Mar-a-Lago and tax fraud charges of his business, and he faces criminal investigation in several cases.
“Whether he will succeed in seeking the GOP nomination is unknown given those legal cases, and Trump may even face criminal liability that may disqualify him from pursuing public office,” Lü said.
Trump’s run is undoubtedly further worsening political divides in the US. Trump is good at destroying his opponents’ character rather than targeting their political views in gaining support, and as long as Trump is still active in American politics, political fragmentation and violence will not abate but will intensify, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Observers said that Trump’s message on Tuesday was not intended to unite Americans or make America better, but was for his own political purposes.
“His remarks are a clear attempt to make the US revolve around him instead of him serving the US, which is quite typical of Trump’s behavior,” Li said.
Observers believe that although Trump still garners wide support from Republican party members, his behavior has drawn more questions from within the party.
The New York Times said that after their party’s disappointing performance in the midterms, “Republican elites seem to have decided that Donald Trump is their big problem.”
CNN said that Trump’s announcement is likely to “dash the hopes of party leaders who have longed for fresh talent.”
Li said that American democracy has become a tragedy as the current manifestation of the US politics is that people expend too much energy and the country expends too many resources in the service of elections and politics itself, instead of letting the US politics serve the welfare of people.
(Global Times)
