On November, Trump was once again elected president of the United States, far ahead of Democratic candidate K. Harris. She has already acknowledged her defeat and a meeting with Joe Biden to organise the transfer of power has been agreed upon.
Billionaire Elon Musk put it very precisely in this regard: all the traditional mainstream media lied about Trump and therefore his victory was shocking. Hence, according to Musk, they should reconsider their sources of information. Throughout the election campaign, these media outlets tried their best to denigrate Trump, as well as to embellish the merits of another candidate. Eventually, many Democrats themselves believed in that which they were preaching.
It reminds me of a character from the work of M. Y. Lermontov ‘A Hero of Our Time’, Junker Grushnitsky, who assured everyone that he was “not of this world” for so long that he eventually believed it himself.
An ‘earthquake’ has hit the West
The results of the US elections were a tremendous shock not only for the United States, but also for the entire West. Washington’s interventionist course, based on the postulates of the neoconservatives that America should dictate the rules of the game to the whole world, was rejected by the majority of the country’s population. In addition, Americans opposed the forcible imposition of strange cultural norms (gender transitions in children, same-sex marriage, etc.) on millions of ordinary people who want to live and let others live and do not like being told how to behave and what to think.
Therefore, many Americans lost faith in the system and perceived the Democratic Party as a model of braggadocio and bombast, largely due to the fact that the authorities in Washington inadequately assessed both the domestic situation and international affairs.
As the New York Times noted on 11/6/2024, voters preferred D. Trump as a stronger leader for an indefinite period and someone whom they considered a proven ‘economic champion’; they peaked ‘through their fingers’ at his 34 convictions.
Some American newspapers directly write about a decrepit America that is heading the wrong way. The main irritating factors are illegal immigration and the deterioration of the financial situation of many segments of US society due to inflation.
It is no coincidence that Trump placed special emphasis on the importance of ‘healing America’.
The blatant failures of the Biden administration in foreign policy also played a significant role, particularly the ineffectiveness of policy on the Middle East and Ukraine. Trump has constantly stressed that he intends to prevent new wars and that the Ukrainian conflict will be resolved in the very near future.
Among US allies in Western Europe and Asia, to put it mildly, panic is widespread; most of them expect a tougher course from Washington (Trump has previously made it clear that he views many allies as freeloaders). The ruling coalition of Germany has already collapsed and early parliamentary elections are likely to take place soon. London is anxiously awaiting the termination of the US’ special relationship with the United Kingdom. Trump spoke very unflatteringly about the Labour Party. The current Polish Prime Minister, Tusk, feels very uncomfortable and has repeatedly claimed that Trump is a ‘Soviet agent’.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is absolutely confident. He is constantly under attack from the leadership of the European Union, but has declared himself a ‘firm friend of Trump in Europe’. The French president, who is facing great political difficulties on the home front, was at the forefront of those who congratulated Trump on his tremendous success.
Officially, D. Trump will take office as president of the United States only on January 20, 2025, but the process of transferring power has already begun and many US allies will try to establish contacts with possible figures of the new US administration.
In the Democratic Party itself, a period of confusion and vacillation has come. This period includes finding out the reasons for the resounding defeat and, most importantly, searching for the culprits of such a striking failure. Some of Trump’s opponents fearfully expect his reaction to the offensive labels they hung on him during the election campaign.
Moscow expects Washington to return to normalcy under Trump, which will therefore present opportunities to prevent chaos, systemic crisis and ease international tensions, which have recently reached their peak.
On November 7, speaking at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club, V. V. Putin congratulated Trump on his victory and stated his readiness for negotiations.
Veniamin Popov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Candidate of Historical Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
