With Haley’s departure, the rematch between Biden and Trump has now been established
Mr. Biden has portrayed Mr. Trump as a threat to the foundations of American democracy. He has carefully avoided discussing the many legal threats the former president faces, including four criminal charges and one trial set to begin later this month.
Trump, 77, has portrayed Biden, 81, as elderly, debilitated and unable to carry out the basic duties of the presidency. “It’s the fascists and the communists surrounding him — they’re calling,” Trump said on Fox News on Tuesday, in a sign of the caustic and conspiratorial campaign to come. ‘They are in charge. He is not in charge.”
Much has changed since Mr. Biden defeated Mr. Trump four years ago.
America withdrew from Afghanistan, Russia invaded Ukraine, the Covid pandemic receded and the stock market soared. Inflation and interest rates rose, but unemployment did not. The federal right to abortion was swept away by the Supreme Court, border crossings reached record highs and a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in a riot that resulted in charges of federal crimes against more than 1,200 people. people – including Mr Trump himself, who is accused of being part of a conspiracy to defraud the nation by undermining the 2020 election results.
The 2024 elections are expected to be a referendum on all this and more.
Mr. Trump has not yet formally secured the delegates needed for the nomination, but that could happen as soon as next week. On Thursday, Mr. Biden will have the opportunity to make the case for a second term during his State of the Union address.
Mr Biden, who ran for office in 2020 to restore “the soul of the nation” by wresting the White House from Mr Trump, has made freedom a central theme of his candidacy, supporting abortion rights for women and emphasizes the need for free elections for all. . Mr. Trump has made immigration an animating cause of his campaign, promising to immediately close the border when he returns to the White House, even if it requires him to be a “dictator” on day one, as he put it.