Millions of Americans are currently brutally terrified by the mere prospect of Donald Trump successfully returning to the White House in the impending 2024 presidential election that is now just over a year away.
While it’s hard to conceive that a man with 4 criminal indictments and a staggering 91 and counting felony charges raging against him could even joke about running for the US presidency, much less being successful at it, the fact of the matter is, a second Trump term is far more plausible than many of us are willing to admit.
As we close in on the 2024 election with each passing day, it seems that the fear, trepidation, and panic aren’t actually limited to those of us that would be forced to live under Donald’s second reign of terror. According to an unsettling recent report from the New York Times, the fear and panic over this prospect is rippling through authority figures around the world, as one European diplomat called the idea of a second term for the unhinged, indicted ex-president “terrifying.”
Steven Erlanger with the Times wrote, “For most European governments, it is almost too upsetting to think about, let alone debate in public. But the prospect that Donald J. Trump could win the Republican nomination for the presidency and return to the White House is a prime topic of private discussion.”
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European diplomat Steven Everts explained to NYT, “We were relieved by President Biden and his response to Ukraine but now we’re forced to confront the Trump question again.”
Everts is merely one of dozens and counting who are rightfully terrified of living through not only a possible second Trump term in the highest level of power in the nation, but equally terrified of a repeat of what we saw when Donald Trump lost — a tear at the seams of this country’s literal democracy.
Former German government official Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff told the Times that a second Trump presidency “would be different from the first, and much worse,” warning, “Trump has experience now and knows what levers to pull, and he’s angry.” He went on to note that former Chancellor Angela Merkel knew how to handle the likes of narcissistic egomaniac Donald Trump, but now there is no one in a position of power able to handle a “Trump Two.”
While the fears and concerns are rampant among world officials from every conceivable direction, one of the top concerns across US allies around the globe is the effect that a second Trump term will have on the violent, ongoing war between Putin’s Russia and Ukraine — a situation in which all European nations have invested skin in the game.
French Institute of International Relations Director Thomas Gomart said, “It’s absolutely clear that Putin intends to continue the war, at least until the American elections, and hopes for Trump. It could be a big shock for Europeans.”
Michal Baranowski of the German Marshall Fund added, “But Trump is unpredictable to an uncomfortable degree for everyone.”
Read the unsettling full report from the New York Times here.
Featured image via U.S. Air National Guard photo by Dale Greer
