by Vijaya Chandrasoma

Democrats have a masochistic tendency for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory . Sometimes they self-destruct all on their own, prematurely conceding elections patently in dispute. Other times, they are given a helping hand from third party candidates contesting a presidency they have no chance of winning, who “’steal” vital votes from the Democratic candidate, in spite of having complementary platforms.

Currently, this tendency seems to be ominously destined for repetition in 2024.

Al Gore in 2000 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 both conceded their elections prematurely, when their elections were either still in dispute (Gore), or provably corrupted by a false statement by the then Attorney General, 11 days before the election, against election laws; and Russian interference conclusively proved by the subsequent Mueller Report (Clinton).

Both these election irregularities could have been disputed with cases filed with the Courts, and either or both had fair chances of winning, with solid evidence. Unlike Trump’s 60+ phony cases filed in 2020, all of which were thrown out by the courts for lack of a shred of evidence.

Both elections were conceded by Gore and Clinton with honorable, patriotic speeches. Predictably, Trump has yet to concede the 2020 election.

Green Party candidates, Ralph Nader in 2000 and Jill Stein in 2016, acted as spoilers for the Democrats, “stealing” votes from the Democrats and probably “helping” them lose both elections.

Politicians/activists who have indicated their intention to run as third party candidates are:

Dr. Cornell West, Harvard educated Professor Emeritus at Princeton University, activist and author, is the declared 2024 presidential nominee of the Green Party. He is running a campaign centered around Medicare for All, public housing, action on climate change and drastically cutting the military budget, policies espoused by the progressive and popular Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party.

Dr West is capable of diverting a significant percentage of the Democratic vote which would compromise the chances of the Party nominee.

So can Robert F. Kennedy Jr., though for totally different reasons. Junior has achieved nothing educationally, politically or in governance. He is best known for his anti-vaccine stance; he has racist, anti-Semitic views and outlandish conspiracy theories. He also hangs out with billionaire Republican donors and shares Republican policies. In fact, Trump’s senior adviser, Steve Bannon, has been floating the idea of a Trump-Kennedy ticket for 2024.

Kennedy’s personal life is a walking tragedy, with a lifetime of drug abuse and an estranged second wife, who bore four of his six children, and committed suicide at age 52. He has been spurned by his famous family for disgracing the family name.

Which is his only qualification, being the son of Attorney General of the 1960s, Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Edward Kennedy.

RFK Jr. is currently running for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. He will not win a single state in the Democratic primaries, for which he may qualify only because of his “Kennedy Privilege”.

The real threat for the Democrats is if he decides to run as a third party candidate. His legendary name alone may garner him around 15% of the Democratic vote, which, coupled with Dr West’s likely 10% or more, could inflict a double whammy spoiler for the Democrats, and hand over the presidency on a platter to the Republicans. As of today, to Trump.

Joe Mancin, Democratic (?) Senator from West Virginia, has previous experience in acting as a spoiler to the Democratic Party in the Senate. Mancin knows he hasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell to win the presidency and has entered the race only to steal a few votes from the party he ostensibly represents.

All elections in the USA and throughout the world are contested on the popular vote system – the person who gets the most votes, wins. Except for the election for the presidency of the USA, which is contested according to the archaic conditions of a system devised 250 years ago, the Electoral College.

In addition to various racial and societal anomalies, the Electoral College makes it possible for a candidate to win the presidency without winning the popular vote. It also enforces the two-party system, which makes it impossible for a third party candidate to succeed.

This archaic electoral process gave us, in this century, two of the worst presidents in US history, who had both lost the popular vote. George Bush lost to Al Gore in 2000 by 543,895 votes and Trump to Clinton in 2016 by 2,865,075 votes.

Bush involved the nation in an illegal war with Iraq, with enormous losses in human lives (American and Iraqi) and property. He transformed a thriving economy and a surplus inherited from Clinton into a near recession and a deficit of over a trillion dollars by 2008.

Trump was the most corrupt president in history. He, his family and his cronies bled the country dry to the tune of billions of dollars. He polarized the country to the point of ethnic violence with his white supremacist, racist, phony evangelist policies, culminating in inciting a violent insurrection which nearly destroyed U.S. democracy and started a second civil war.

The 2024 election may prove to be one of the most divisive contests in US history. Around 60% to 70% of the American electorate do not favor either of the current front-runners, Trump or Biden. Republican support for Trump seems to be thinning as his legal woes keep piling up. Perhaps some Republicans have finally found a cure for the dread disease of white blindness.

It is staggering that the likely candidates for the highest post in the richest and most powerful nation in the world are two old white men, in or nearing their 80s. The incumbent, President Biden, with the achievements of a most successful first term, is sadly showing both physical and mental signs of senility, which will only degenerate during a second term. The challenger, twice impeached former President Trump, is himself approaching 80 years of age. He is a clinical psychopath who has been indicted on a medley of felonies of sexual assault, financial fraud, obstruction of justice, espionage and sedition.

The terrifying fact is, unless the American electorate comes to its senses, and quickly, either of these old fogies will assume the awesome powers of the US presidency, including access to the nuclear codes, for four long years from January 2025.

If Biden wins a second term, he has promised to finish the wonderful job he has been doing in his first term. However, most Democratic voters are of the opinion that he will be too senile to effectively carry out the duties of the presidency in his second term, at the end of which he will be 86.

If Trump wins the election, the New York Times, in a recent editorial, states that “Trump and his backers are planning a sweeping expansion of presidential power over government machinery if voters return him to power in 2024, reshaping the structure of the Executive Branch to concentrate far greater authority in his hands”. A political strategy known in Sri Lanka as “doing a Jayewardene”.

Two weeks ago, Special Counsel, Jack Smith sent a “target letter” to the Trump legal team, indicating that Trump’s indictment for his role in the incitement of the January 6 insurrection is imminent.

The danger of all these legal actions against Trump is that impeachments, indictments, even arrests, only seem to empower him and make him stronger. Republicans seem to be faced with an unenviable dilemma in 2024 – they are damned if Trump wins, they are damned if he doesn’t.

Strangely, even his declared rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination have chosen to turn a blind eye to his culpability of all the crimes he has so evidently committed. They know damned well that Trump is guilty of trying to illegally overturn an election by fraud, witness tampering and intimidation, inciting a violent insurrection and even attempting to have his vice-president, Mike Pence, hanged. After all, they were all present at the Capitol, the scene of the crime, with their own lives in danger.

But, even in their role as Trump’s declared opponents for the presidency, they stay dumb, unwilling to confront him or call him on these crimes. Even Mike Pence, whose life, and the lives of his family, were threatened by the Trump mob, dares not criticize him openly.

How can such cowards aspire to assume the duties of the US presidency, to act without fear or favor on behalf of all the American people? How will they find the courage, as the Leader of the Free World, to stand up to world leaders like Putin and Xi Jinping, who have the power to invade US allies with impunity?

They can’t and they won’t. Which is the reason none of these sycophants will overcome Trump’s stranglehold on the Republican nomination. They have shown their cowardice by their abject fear of standing up to the criminal, because they cower in fear of his vulgar bullying tactics and the violence of his white supremacist base.

They will soon realize the wisdom of the statement made by Presidential Historian, Jon Meacham, “They have sold their souls to Trump for power, and the check has bounced!”

Trump’s acquittal or a mistrial on any of these cases, even one caused by a hung jury, will not only automatically cement his Republican candidature in 2024, it may even help him win the election. Which will give him four more years to complete the job he started in 2016 of destroying democracy in the U.S. and taking America back to the good old days of white supremacy of the Jim Crow era.

One-term presidents are seldom given a second shot. Trump is a three-time Loser, having lost not only the 2020 presidency in a landslide, but the 2018 and 2022 midterms for his Party. Incredibly, he still has the confidence of his Republican base. Obviously, hope springs eternal in the white supremacist breast.

Republican Speaker McCarthy is now trying to muddy the waters with a threat to impeach President Biden for “weaponization of the Justice Department”. A desperate but futile act of revenge, with no evidence at all, which even if passed by the slim Republican majority in the House, will never reach the 2/3 majority required by the Senate.

There are a couple of Republican presidential hopefuls, who refuse to be bullied by Trump, and have no fear of the Trump base. These are former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who are creeping up the polls as Trump implodes. Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis, who was Trump’s main rival, has blown up his chances with incredibly stupid remarks about education and burning books, the “benefits” of slavery and LGBTQ rights. All these candidates run far behind Trump in current polls. It’s early days, though, anything can happen in 16 months.

There will be many others with presidential aspirations in an election at which anything seems possible. Third party hopefuls have no chance of winning the presidency. Their one intention, besides getting a modest and temporary share of the limelight, is the calculated motive of politicians everywhere in the world – to advance and consolidate their own political and financial futures, with scant regard for the future of the nation they are pledged to serve.

In any event, if Trump is defeated as the Republican candidate in 2024, he will once again call foul, and keep the circus going until 2028, when he will again be seeking that elusive second term at Biden’s age of 82. This could carry on ad nauseam, until the country’s sanity is finally restored by the merciful release of death, his or that of Americans’, whichever comes first. Prayerfully, his.