I think Biden would lose against Trump in 2024 if they are the candidates for the US presidency, and that would make Trump's big lie more dangerous.
Last week I discussed Joe Biden’s decision to run for the American presidency in 2024, and why I think he would lose to Trump if there was to be a rerun of 2020 in 2024. My argument was that while Trump is a much more divisive figure than Biden, Trump at least has a dedicated following of people who want him specifically to win. That same group of people has repeatedly taken Trump’s words as the truth, and while many of Trump’s lies were harmless, like lying about having the most attendees at his inauguration, most were not. The most important lie is of course ‘The Big Lie’, the idea that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by the Democrats. If Trump will win in 2024 as I suspect, there could be implications for how history remembers Trump and his three campaigns for president.
In a grudge match with Trump and Biden facing off just like they did in 2020 it would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the election would play out the same way it did last time. That Biden would win due to being less controversial and overall having fewer rough edges. If Trump would win though, it would also be easy for him to frame the 2024 election as proof that he won in 2020. The same two men were facing off so why would the electorate have picked Trump in 2024 and not in 2020 given the number of scandals Trump has found himself in since leaving office (on top of the ones he already had since his time as president).
It's another in a long line of reasons as to why I don’t think Joe Biden should run in 2024. But it is one of the reasons which could have the most wide reaching effects. One contributing factor as to why Trump was able to get away with so many lies during his presidency is the credibility inherent to elected public office. In a healthy democracy you naturally assume that a politician is telling the truth. They may have a different take on the situation but they are in almost all cases honest about the facts. If Trump is given the credibility of the presidency again, and uses that to claim that to continue spreading The Big Lie there is a risk that people will listen and believe him. Especially if he wins convincingly against Biden in 2024.
If you liked this post you can read my last post about American politics here, or the rest of my writings here. It'd mean a lot to me if you recommended the blog to a friend or coworker. Come back next Monday for a new post!
I've always been interested in politics, economics, and the interplay between. The blog is a place for me to explore different ideas and concepts relating to economics or politics, be that national or international. The goal for the blog is to make you think; to provide new perspectives.
Written by Karl Johansson
Cover photo by Brett Jordan from Pexels, edited by Karl Johansson
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