Trump’s 2020 reelection fight set to be most perilous in decades

WASHINGTON: Elections are often described as a horse race but when Donald Trump seeks his second term in 12 months, it’s going to look more like a monster car demolition derby. One of the most divisive presidents in US history, fighting impeachment in a Congress paralyzed by partisanship, will go before an electorate split down the middle on November 3, 2020. Democrats remain a long way from choosing Trump’s opponent. The field of record size and diversity includes two African Americans, half a dozen women, an openly gay man and two top candidates seeking to move the United States dramatically to the left. But one thing unites them: desire to humiliate former real estate tycoon Trump into becoming only the fourth one-term president since World War II.One lead Democratic contender, centrist former vice president Joe Biden, says a “battle for the soul of America” is underway. To which Trump says: Democrats want to “destroy our country. And with US intelligence warning that Russia seeks to repeat its 2016 dirty tricks campaign, the possibility of the contest ending in genuine crisis cannot be discounted. “You really have to stretch to find an election as combustible and unpredictable as this one,” Allan Lichtman, distinguished professor of history at American University, said. “There are very few analogues.Trump’s fate matters to the globe. Trade disputes with China and the European Union, the future of NATO, US entanglements in the Middle East and Afghanistan, Iran’s nuclear program, the North Korean nuclear standoff, the Paris climate accord — there’s a near endless list of major issues that depend on whether or not Trump’s “America first” agenda gets another four years. But good luck to anyone trying to predict results. Polls show Trump down against every serious Democratic candidate. His approval rate is stuck in the low 40 percent range, where it has been most of his presidency.

from The News International - World https://ift.tt/2JyNLs0