LAHORE: Scheduled to be held on November 3, 2020, the 59th quadrennial American Presidential election may still be nine months away, but the incumbent US President, Donald Trump, has already launched a re-election campaign—evoking all sorts of media predictions and reactions regarding his candidacy; and his chances to capture the throne for another four-year term as the current White House boss begins his transition into an election mode.
Not long ago, on February 6 this year, the Republican-led US Senate had handed Trump a massive triumph by acquitting him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
The Qatar-based “Al-Jazeera Television had then immediately quoted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of Trump’s strongest and most vocal critics, as saying: “The president will boast that he has been acquitted. There can be no acquittal without a trial, and there is no trial without witnesses, documents and evidence ... The president is impeached forever.”
And just a week later, the “New York Times” now thinks Trump is running to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat again.
The prestigious American media house states: “Even if he decisively loses the national vote, the Electoral College can put him back in the White House. Donald Trump commands a remarkable level of support from virtually every elected official in his party and almost all voters likely to vote for his party. In this respect, he stands alone among presidents in modern history. The question arises: Why shouldn’t he try to hold that base, drive his approval rating high above 50 percent and win a big national victory in November 2020?”
The “New York Times” adds: “The answer is that in this century the Electoral College system strongly encourages candidates of both parties, and particularly any Republican candidate, to ignore the national popular vote. That’s especially true for President Trump: The system rewards him for focusing on a handful of states, located mostly in the Great Lakes region, with policies, promises and programs that may not resonate or even be consistent with the interests of all Americans.”
The premier American media outlet asserts: “With those odds, any rational strategist would tell Mr. Trump to campaign for victory in the swing states that hold the electors necessary to get to magic 270 number, even if the message, the visits and the focus might turn off voters in the rest of the country. This sort of campaign and this type of presidency might not be best for the economy or society as a whole. But it is the way to win.”
Many pro-Trump Americans feel that with each passing day ahead of the 2020 United States presidential election, Donald Trump’s odds to spend another four years in the White House continue to improve.
Another American news channel, the “NBC News” has recently conducted a poll, according to which, most voters think President Trump will win.
The New York-based “NBC News,” a news division of the American broadcast television network NBC, maintains: “Two-thirds of voters believe that President Trump will be re-elected in November, according to a new Monmouth University poll. Of those, 27 percent said they think Trump will “definitely” be re-elected, while 39 percent said they feel he will “probably” win again. The poll also finds that just 11 percent of registered Democrats say their party’s eventual nominee will “definitely” beat Trump, while 38 percent said “it is more likely than not” that President Trump will win.”
Meanwhile, the “Fox News,” an American conservative cable television news channel, has cited another survey that has dropped strong hints about Trump’s re-election.
This media outlet states: “Even as some economic challenges continue to plague US farmers, they are optimistic both about their financial futures and about President Trump’s chances of being reelected in November. According to a new survey from “FarmProgress,”68 percent of respondents said they expect the next two decades will be profitable for agriculture– a 2 percent increase from the year prior. Boosting optimism was the outlook for overall financing conditions thanks to low interest rates and eased concerns about losing rental ground due to high cash rent prices. Further, optimism about Trump’s trade policies increased after the administration signed a phase one trade agreement with China last month. Nearly three-quarters of farmers thought Trump’s tariffs would pay off for the farming sector in the long run – up from 63 percent last year.”
Trump’s claims and achievements
According to the “White House,” Trump’s accomplishments include creation of almost four million jobs created since his election in 2016, creation of more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since 2016, the economic growth during the last quarter has hit 4.2 percent in the US, new unemployment claims have recently hit a 49-year low, median household income has hit highest level ever recorded, the African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded, the Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded, the Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded, the women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years, the youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century, the veterans’ unemployment during Trump administration has reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years, almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election, some 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—the highest ever, the retail sales surged last month, up another 6 percent over last year, Trump signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history and after the tax cuts, over $300 billion poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone, Trump helped the United States win bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he helped his country win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup, enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions, and his administration approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history etc.
Well, whatever the outcome of the November ballot exercise may be, the topic of age has been brought up among the three candidates widely considered to be the front-runners: former Vice President Joe Biden, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, and Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, who will be 78, 71, and 79 respectively on inauguration day that will fall on January 20, 2021. Trump will be 74 plus at that time, by the way!