South Front
Illustrative Image
Trump calls for presidential candidates to undergo cognitive tests.
Written by Ahmed Adel, Cairo-based geopolitics and political economy researcher
US President Joe Biden announced on April 25 that he will run in 2024 to try to stay in the White House. However, his age is one of the biggest question marks and is a sign of the scarcity of options in the American political landscape.
The US president, who will turn 81 in November, announced that he will lead the Democratic Party in the next presidential elections. In a video, Biden claimed to have fought for democracy throughout his administration and warned that supporters of former US President Donald Trump, or “MAGA extremists” as he labelled them, are “lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms.”
However, given that he is one of the world’s oldest leaders and is using extremely divisive rhetoric, his position is far from reflecting a good state of US politics. Biden’s contention in the elections speaks more about the structure of society than about the candidates. It is a demonstration that American society is extremely polarised and fractured, so-much-so that it has not been able to build new leaders to meet today’s challenges. Instead, the political landscape is dominated by Cold War-era figures.
This permanence in power of certain spheres makes it difficult to create new political cadres so that there is a real counterweight. It is, partly, for this reason that the US remains fixated on trying to maintain the unipolar world order and challenging Russia, rather than acknowledging that multiple poles now exist and China is the biggest competitor for global hegemony.
On the Republican side, many are younger than Donald Trump, who in June will be 77. It is still unclear if the Republicans will once again select Trump or another strong character, like 44-year-old Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. However, on the Democrats side, there is no other realistic option besides Biden or Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who is now 69-years-old.
None-the-less, more than 60% of American adults believe Biden is too old to run again, according to a Reuters-Ipsos poll. For his part, Trump has dismissed criticism about Biden’s age. Instead, he proposed that presidential candidates take cognitive tests. Last month, First Lady Jill Biden said the president would never undergo such a test, calling the idea “ridiculous.”
In addition to Biden’s age, there are other factors that would make it difficult for him to win the 2024 elections, such as domestic issues, which includes abortion and contraception, and the regulation of firearms.
Another issue against the current US president is his level of approval among the population. Morning Consult reported in recent days that the president has a low level of popularity in most states.
“Biden’s net approval rating — the share of voters who approve minus the share who disapprove — is underwater in 40 states,” according to the Morning Consult Political Intelligence quarterly tracking.
However, in places like California, Hawaii, Maryland and Vermont, support for the current president remains strong. These states are traditionally close to the Democratic Party.
Other aspects to consider is the country’s current economic situation, such as inflation and the financing of the Kiev regime, as well as migration, narcotic trafficking, and fentanyl addiction. Policies on these issues are going to influence voters. In this way, the next election will be a demonstration on the most pressing domestic issues for the average American voter.
It is for this reason that shortly before Biden officially announced his 2024 re-election bid, Trump criticised the president and blamed him for inflation and the uncertainty of the dollar as the world’s leading currency. He also criticised Biden for his withdrawal from Afghanistan, for alleged corruption and for ruining the US’ energy independence.
“You could take the five worst presidents in American history, and put them together, and they would not have done the damage Joe Biden has done to our nation in just a few short years. Not even close,” Trump said in a video.
None-the-less, regardless of who the Democratic and Republican contenders are for the 2024 presidential elections, it also evident that the US is lagging on the global agenda. The decline of US hegemony also has to do with the lack of fresh ideas and the suppression of a new generations to contribute to public opinion in political terms.
Although Trump represents the freshest ideas from what is available, such as having confidence in being able to find a peace between Russia and Ukraine, he still defends a US-led unipolar world order but instead focusses his energy on opposing China. This once again demonstrates that Washington’s interests, no matter which party is ruling, is primarily concentrated on maintaining US global hegemony.
