The year 2023 will be remembered as a dramatic year. 2024 could be even worse. Not only because of the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza or Africa, but because of new ones that could erupt if the great powers scramble in search of a different world order and neglect climate change and the masses of migrants.
The U.S. presidential election in this framework should be seen, without exaggeration, as a risk to democracy. Should he win over Joe Biden or whoever will be the Democratic challenger, Donald Trump has already said that all he needs is “one day as a dictator,” to overthrow history and the achievements of civilization. And there are millions of people in America ready to vote and support him in his quest. It is also true that millions more Americans are afraid that this could really happen and will try to prevent it by choosing a candidate other than Trump, be it a Republican or a Democrat.
In almost 40 years of observing America on a daily basis, we had never heard the kind of language and rhetoric that Trump has spewed. We didn’t even think it was possible. It is the language of revenge and violence, of falsehoods about the non-existent 2020 election fraud, but which Trump continues to spread. Even rivals in the Republican Party are afraid to confront him directly and have retracted the statements of anger and indignation they made after the attack on Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. His extremist supporters, on the other hand, are not afraid to show up in front of the cameras threatening a manhunt even against journalists who are criticizing him.
There is a furious legal battle these days over his eligibility related to the third article of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which disqualifies from the presidential race anyone who, having sworn allegiance to the US Constitution, has then participated in or instigated an insurrection. Many in the country think the so-called “insurrection clause” applies to Trump for his attempt to prevent the smooth transfer of power to Joe Biden. Trump lost the election in 2020, not only with the electoral vote, which is what counts to win the White House, but also the popular vote, where he got almost 8 million fewer votes than Biden.
But that does not seem to matter to a part of America that believes in the conspiracy against him even though it was Trump who tried to alter the outcome of the polls with constant complaints of fraud by rivals. Complaints that have all been debunked by investigations, court appeals and even Supreme Court opinions.
In November 2024, America will have to choose whether to stand on the side of truth or fake news, democracy or dictatorship. Even for just one day. We have no doubts. In times of peace and in times of war, we are for democracy. And above all, we do not like that it is once again the 9 partisan and life-long justices of the Supreme Court who will decide for everyone–as was already the case with abortion, when the vast majority of the country, not just women, were against that choice that pushed the nation back decades.
So much for the American dream. At stake this time there is also the Constitution.
