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Nicolas Kristof
By Nicolas Kristof
opinion columnist
An attempted murder. An official Republican presidential candidate who is also the most polarizing figure in American fashion history. There are increasing rumors that Donald Trump could win in a landslide. His heir anointing to realign the parties and Trumpism in the years to come. And in the middle of it all, tormented by polls and criticism, capable of changing the entire dynamic only by sacrificing themselves: Biden’s agonists.
That week! It was as if we were in August 1914, a point in the course of events. These days would have arguably altered the arc of America and the world, with history moving in opposite directions in tactics that may also shape our course for decades. .
“There are decades in which nothing happens and weeks in which decades happen,” Lenin was quoted as saying. In fact, he probably didn’t say it; Please excuse my fact-checking efforts, as this is a symbolic return to our Leninist dialectic of exaggerations, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories that have been put forward this week.
For me, the uproar has raised fears, but it has also provided hope and potential tipping points; the most significant is the prospect of President Biden dropping out of the race, as he appears to be considering. Trump has had a triumphant and ecstatic week, but his acceptance speech also highlighted his lack of field and his tendency to present himself as America’s Caesar. Polls showed his strength against Biden, but his speech also suggested Biden-style inconsistency (an unfair word for Biden) and a path to a Democratic victory that could even shake the Republican Party. out of sectarian respect for Trump.
Biden can borrow the language of President Lyndon Johnson, who on Sunday, March 31, 1968, surprised the country in a televised speech by announcing: “I will neither seek nor settle for my party’s nomination for another term. Your president. This is won Johnson’s rare praise; in 2024, such a statement could provoke a crisis in November.
The momentous challenge for United States is not Trump himself, but the poisons, divisions, inequalities, and broader frustrations he has exploited that have come to a head this month. These phenomena are not unique to the United States, as similar forces led to Brexit in Britain, the rise of Marine Le Pen in France, and the arrival of a prime minister in Italy whose party has neo-fascist roots. To me, today’s toxins seem to be an echo of the anger that tore United States and Europe apart in the 1960s, but which eventually ran its course and allowed us to recover. It’s far from inevitable, but until the end of this week I can squint and see a road ahead that navigates a dangerous fall but ultimately rejects extremism and leads to a new American recovery.
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