Trump Returns

We can now officially say that former President Donald Trump has announced his intention to run in the next election. Just how big are Trump’s ambitions? How great are his chances? How serious, finally, is his strategy? We will leave these questions for the end and start with the facts.

Back at the end of June, while giving a fiery speech against the Biden administration in Texas, Trump asked Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, “Will you be my campaign manager if I do it again?”*

On June 30, Fox News host Sean Hannity asked Trump about the future: “Have you made up your mind?” Trump firmly and unequivocally answered yes, receiving a storm of applause in response. "It's not that I want to," Trump clarified. "The country needs it. We have to take care of this country. It isn't fun, fighting constantly, fighting always."

On July 4, Independence Day, Trump celebrated with rallies in Florida, which can already be considered the beginning of the election campaign. He presented the new slogan, "Save America!" which looks especially symbolic against the background of everything that is happening with the country. This also differs from Trump's previous slogan, "Make America great again!"

The Democratic Party quickly reacted to the ex-president’s activity with news about the charges filed against the Trump Organization in New York, which is accused of tax evasion. Truthfully, this in not about Trump himself, but the company's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. Nevertheless, the message is clear: Any attempt Trump makes to return to national politics will be met with legal prosecution.

But Trump is not the type of person to simply give up. And he is capable of correctly calculating moves in areas he is familiar with, such as business.

Like a fish in water, he is more confident in business than he is in politics. Yes — and now for the sad part — Trump’s presidential saga has conclusively shown that not all the techniques that work in business work in politics. The latter requires more knowledge, a much broader picture of the world, and a much more sophisticated strategy. And here Trump’s weakness has become quite obvious to us as well. Trump never quite managed to build a strong team, and was not able to create and launch a real strategy to combat left-liberal ideology in general. Finally, he never managed to formally organize his army of supporters. Millions of Trumpers still attend rallies, as Trump himself was and still is someone who is excellent at coming up with bold phrases and good memes. These qualities, needless to say, are important, but far from the only ones necessary to win.

Trump proved that, alas, he is not a team player or a systematic player. He does not know how to create a thoughtful and action-focused army from the crowd of his fervent supporters. He never mastered the political control panel or how to press the buttons in a timely manner and therefore activate support when necessary. Instead, the political control panel is tightly controlled by his enemies — the Democrats, who have penetrated the Washington corridors of power with their "think tanks,” their apparatus of influence, the lobby system, etc.

While Barack Obama was president, he was able to skillfully manipulate the vulnerabilities in politics to create the Black Lives Matter movement right in the White House's backyard. Trump didn't manage to do anything like that.

He failed at even the most necessary thing: to create a network of self-controlled media. At the most crucial moment, when the fate of the election was being decided, he allowed himself to be driven into information isolation. All these things are absolutely inexcusable for a politician. All of this became the reason for his defeat. And from all of this, Trump, it seems, never quite drew the proper conclusions. Anyway, we don’t see his tactics or strategies changing any time soon.

Yes, he is fighting a legal battle with information technology, but it is too late and almost hopeless. Just a few days ago, Trump announced a class action lawsuit against Facebook, Google, Twitter and other Big Tech corporations. (After the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump was permanently banned from Twitter, and he was banned from Facebook for two years). He calls the IT giants' actions a crime and demanded "an end to the shadow banning, a stop to the silencing and a stop to the blacklisting, banishing and canceling that you know so well," as he said in a statement. “We are going to hold Big Tech very accountable. This is the first of numerous other lawsuits.” Trump claimed that it’s the largest lawsuit of its kind, defending freedom of speech, and added that “thousands of people” are prepared to join him. Maybe it's true. But Trump’s position in his battle with the IT giants didn’t look strong even when he was president. Now, it looks even weaker.

Not long ago, Trump also announced the launch of a new electronic platform, GETTR, as a right-wing alternative to IT giants. This network is actually a clone of Trump's favorite platform, Twitter, and it is led by his former spokesman, Jason Miller.

Well, it is a good thing, but such a platform should have appeared at least a year or two ago. Better late than never, though. Yet, this once again shows that Trump, as a strategist, is hopelessly lagging behind and losing to his enemies, whose force he underestimates. At a time when "saving America" (the slogan, of course, is over-factual, eloquently saying that it's already too late to "make America great again") involves fighting an environment of ever-expanding chaos, it is becoming more and more problematic every day. After all, we are actually talking about the domination of the "new normal" (LGBT agenda, critical theory, multiculturalism, the "big reset") of the entire white civilization in the West. And compared to the intensifying forces of the the swamp, Trump appears again to be the same fairy-tale hero with a cardboard sword, as we saw him in the last election.

So, how big are Trump’s ambitions? How great are his chances? Finally, how serious is his strategy?

In summary, the answer to all of these questions is: Trump today is much bigger than simply an ex-president, a showman, and the idol of millions of Americans. Trump today is Trumpism. It’s not even a movement; it’s a way of thinking, it’s the flag, the banner of the conservative resistance. At a minimum, its America and potentially, perhaps, the entire West. And it is best for Trump to wield this banner, to gather millions at rallies, to give birth to memes and slogans, to actualize the energy of protest.

But as a potential president, Trump, it seems, is almost desperate. It’s obvious that the Democrats, who captured the White House and are the majority party in control, are not going to give up power. The time of totalitarian democracy is coming. And the sooner American conservatives realize this, the sooner and better they will be able to build their own opposition to the new order. Yes, this is a situation that is culminating on the eve of a new "war between the North and the South,” a war much more global than the previous one. Such a situation requires consolidation, mobilization and a strong combat staff. Trump's role is one of carrying the battle's banner, the moral leader of the "New South" and the new resistance. But Trumpism, as a force, is young and strong. Unlike the Democrats, he has a lot of young, hot blood. He is able to distinguish the young, strong, self-confident and, most importantly, professionally politically competent leaders. Grandpa does not need to take out an old saber and go to war. He has already accomplished his life's work.

*Editor's Note: This quotation, accurately translated, could not be verified.