Mocking reactions to Trump’s candidacy
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“Florida Man Makes an Announcement”
Donald Trump in a well-known pose at his announcement.
Photo: dpa/Andrew Harnik
New York/Washington/Palm Beach No trace of enthusiasm: after Donald Trump’s announcement that he wanted to run again for the presidency, many reactions and comments were far from benevolent. Some are even mocking.
Just over a week after the US midterm elections, former US President Donald Trump has announced that he wants to return to the White House. On Tuesday night, the 76-year-old officially announced at his Florida home that he would run for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election. But after his party’s poor performance in the “middlemen,” Trump is battered. The reactions to his performance were mixed, sometimes very subdued.
Meanwhile, the right-wing tabloid “New York Post” reacted with biting sarcasm to the renewed presidential candidacy of former US president Donald Trump. The paper, which belongs to Murdoch’s media empire, simply wrote “Florida man makes ad” at the bottom of its front page on Wednesday – and sent its readers back to page 26. There he read in a brief text full of irony: “Just 720 days before the next election, a Florida retiree made a surprise announcement on Tuesday night that he was running for president.” The “enthusiastic golfer Donald J. Trump” made the announcement “that no political pundit expected to arrive” at Mar-a-Lago, “his resort and library of classified documents.”
The “New York Post” alluded to the story of secret documents that Trump had brought to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after his stint in the White House. The tabloid also notes that if Trump wins the 2024 election, he would be 78, the age of incumbent Joe Biden, the oldest president in US history, when he took office. “His cholesterol levels are unknown, but his favorite food is grilled steak with ketchup.”
Trump’s former defense secretary Mark Esper, who was fired by Trump, described the ex-president’s speech on American television as “uninteresting”. On the other hand, there were words of praise from Trump’s candidate for governor of Arizona, election denier Kari Lake: “He has my fill and no reservations.” Lake had lost the election to Democrat Katie Hobbs.
During Trump’s speech, US President Joe Biden was on the international scene and was in the spotlight after the fatal rocket hit in eastern Poland. The 79-year-old met with G7 and NATO partners on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia, around the same time as Trump’s appearance. Meanwhile, Biden’s Twitter account said during the announcement, “Trump has failed America.”
Biden was then approached by a reporter about Trump’s candidacy. “Not really,” Biden replied when asked if he wanted to respond to the ad. Biden stood with French President Emmanuel Macron when asked about Trump’s candidacy. Both smiled at each other, according to the American press. Macron said nothing.
In an interview with ntv on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not impressed by Trump’s announcement. “I’m not so impressed because this is now taking place in a phase after the midterm elections in the United States, where one can now hope that, as in the last election, a decision against populism remains possible,” Scholz told the station.
Scholz found words of praise for the incumbent US president. Biden is “very fit”, “a very intelligent, highly experienced politician” and “a true transatlantic liner” who is very interested in cooperation between Europe and the United States. When asked by news channel Welt whether Trump’s candidacy in Bali played a role, Scholz replied: “Perhaps the best news is: not at all.”
Trump made it clear to his supporters in Palm Beach that he wanted to continue his previous policy if reelected. “To make America great and glorious again, tonight I am announcing my candidacy for President of the United States,” he said. Trump described Biden’s America as a “failing nation.” He himself, on the other hand, had built “the greatest economy of all time” twice: before and after the coronavirus pandemic. “America’s comeback is starting right now,” he proclaimed.
Trump’s hour-long speech was largely a kaleidoscope of statements and stories that he had repeated dozens of times during campaign appearances. Among other things, he praised the way drug traffickers are treated in China, where they are executed within a day after expedited procedures. He has promised to expand the wall to the border with Mexico.
A new theme was the announcement that the amendment would impose a limit on the number of terms in Congress when entering the White House. Trump also wants elections to be possible only with paper ballots instead of computers to vote, as is the case today. Also, the results should be available the same day. Trump continues to claim that his victory over Biden was stolen through fraud. This has always been refuted in court.
Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden two years ago and left the White House after one term. He later tried to overturn the result and to this day has not admitted his electoral defeat. Trump is at the center of various investigations and investigations, also due to the assault on the United States Capitol by his supporters in January 2021 and because he stole government documents from the White House.
To run as his party’s candidate in the 2024 presidential election, Trump must succeed in the intra-party primaries. More recently, after the unexpectedly strong performance of Democrats in the general election, calls from Republicans to leave Trump behind have grown louder. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, for example, could become a threat to Trump. The 44-year-old was confirmed in office with an excellent result in the midterm elections. Although DeSantis represents similar hard-line positions, he appears less strident in his public image than he does.
Trump served as President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. In the United States, a person can serve two terms, consecutive or not.
