Is Trump on the Ropes? There’s a Long Way To Go

Published in El Heraldo de Mexico
(Mexico) on 30 June 2020
by Josè Carreño Figueras (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Hannah Bowditch. Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
The president has found himself in the midst of a series of scandals and problems of his own making.

In political terms, President Donald Trump has just gone through the two worst weeks of his life.

Less than five months away from an election in which he is seeking a second term, the president has found himself in the midst of a series of scandals and problems of his own making.

In addition to the three or four books that have emerged over the last few weeks featuring unfavorable descriptions of Trump, his working style and his motives, the way he has dealt with issues ranging from anti-racist protests triggered by the death of the George Floyd, an African American man, to COVID-19 outbreak that has plagued the country, has forced the president into a corner.

His habit of thoughtlessly tweeting or re tweeting certainly doesn’t help. Legal attempts to stop the publication of at least two books, one written by former National Security Advisor John Bolton, and another by his niece, Mary Trump, has only served to highlight the authors and their descriptions of the president as egocentric, detached, ignorant and even capricious.

Trump’s decision to portray himself as a proponent of “law and order” when faced with the protests sparked by the video of Floyd’s death at the hands of white police officers only accentuates the impression that he’s not interested in addressing the concerns of minorities.

Meanwhile, the ongoing scandal of his response to the health crisis involving the COVID-19 pandemic, which the press first dismissed as mismanagement and later as politicization, doesn’t help either. Especially when Trump later insisted on reopening the economy and holding crowded rallies while the infection epicenter moved to Republican states, which shut down ineffectively and late following Trump’s example.

The result is that less than five months away from the Nov. 3 election, Trump finds himself at a disadvantage, with a 56% to 41% approval rating against a reliable opponent, the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.

At the same time, four months is a long time in U.S. politics, which are based on images and perceptions of the moment.

Now we await the Republicans’ efforts to paint Biden in the worst possible light, whether as a puppet for a supposedly socialist agenda, or as a feeble old man.

Republicans see another greater danger: Trump’s personal unpopularity, so much so that aside from the presidential election, it now appears that the Republican majority in the Senate is at stake. If the Democrats manage to win the five seats they need to claim the majority in the Senate, they’ll have total control of Congress, at least for the next two years.


Trump ¿contra las cuerdas? Falta mucho

El mandatario se ha visto en el centro de una serie de escándalos y problemas de factura propia

En términos políticos, el presidente Donald Trump acaba de pasar por las dos peores semanas de su vida.

A menos de cinco meses de las elecciones en las que busca refrendar su mandato por otros cuatro años, el mandatario se ha visto en el centro de una serie de escándalos y problemas en gran medida de factura propia.

Más allá de los tres o cuatro libros que han aparecido las últimas semanas con una muy desfavorable descripción de Trump, su estilo de trabajo y sus motivos, la forma en que ha enfrentado temas que van de las manifestaciones antirracistas provocadas por la muerte del afroestadounidense George Floyd al brote de coronavirus que azota el país ha arrinconado al mandatario.

Y ciertamente, su costumbre de enviar o reenviar mensajes de tuit casi sin pensar no lo ayuda. Los intentos por vía judicial de evitar la publicación de al menos dos de los libros, el de su exconsejero de seguridad nacional, John Bolton, y el de su sobrina Mary Trump, sólo contribuyeron a darles más prominencia, y con ello a sus descripciones del mandatario como egocéntrico, desinteresado, ignorante y aún caprichoso.

Su decisión de presentarse como partidario de la “ley y orden” frente a las manifestaciones provocadas por el video de la muerte de Floyd por agentes de Policía blancos sólo acentuó la impresión de que no está interesado en abordar sus preocupaciones de las minorías.

Paralelamente, el continuo escándalo por su respuesta a la crisis de salud representada por la pandemia de COVID-19 –que según las descripciones de la prensa fueron de desestimarla a un mal manejo de la respuesta y luego a la politización– tampoco ayuda, sobre todo luego de insistir en la reapertura de la economía y la realización de mítines multitudinarios cuando el foco de infecciones se trasladó a estados republicanos que siguieron su ejemplo y cerraron mal y tarde.

El resultado es que a menos de cinco meses de las elecciones, 3 de noviembre, Trump se encuentra en desventaja, 56 a 41 por ciento de favorabilidad, frente a su seguro adversario, el aún virtual candidato demócrata Joe Biden.
Pero al mismo tiempo, cuatro meses son mucho tiempo en una política que como la estadounidense es de imágenes y de percepciones de momento.

Por lo pronto, se espera un gran esfuerzo de los republicanos para comenzar a pintar a Biden bajo la peor luz posible, sea como el títere de una agenda presuntamente “socialista” o como un anciano carente de vigor.

Los republicanos ven otro peligro mayor: la impopularidad personal de Trump, tanto que al margen de la elección presidencial ahora parece estar en juego la mayoría republicana en el Senado. Si los demócratas lograsen efectivamente conquistar los cinco escaños que necesitan para ganar el predominio en la Cámara alta, su control del Congreso sería total, al menos por los dos años siguientes.
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