Securing a leading position in the White House is one thing, while securing a prominent place in history is another. History is an eraser that only those who leave indelible marks can defy. To secure a spot in history, the American president must write his narrative so that it becomes a permanent item in the tale of his country. He must be both the hero and the victim in that narrative. The characteristics of the screaming man are well-known: he must be a leader, not just a president whose allure diminishes if he loses the palace and the seals.
For the heroics of these narratives to be fulfilled, one must have supporters whose faith in you does not waver despite a deluge of accusations hurled at you. You must have enemies who are greatly disturbed by you and do not stop blowing on the embers of their hatreds. Your supporters must consider you a victim if courts summon you and judges search through your documents and your days. This must be true even if major media outlets hammer you and call for a vaccination campaign to protect the country and its people from your pandemic. Writers must compete in dissecting your faults, which are not few or simple.
To complete the requirements of the narrative, it must appear as though you are a turning point in shaping the destinies of peoples, states, and alliances. You should be capable of unleashing storms and repelling them. You must be a boxer not tempted by retirement or withdrawal, preferring to fall in the ring rather than hearing the title of former president or failed candidate. You should possess a talent for stealing the spotlight, forcing headlines even in newspapers that may dream of showcasing your corpse. You must have the ability to reassure as well as to worry. An air of mystery should surround your choices. You should surprise, astonish, and agitate an entire state, continent, or the inhabitants of the global village. You should transform your weaknesses into strengths. You must turn a trap set for you into an opportunity to ensnare your enemies. No one should know for certain the depths of your soul and the limits of your fondnesses and dislikes.
It is not simple to agitate an aging continent known as Europe. To disturb the days of the emperor of China. And to ensure that the "comrade" seated on the Kremlin throne is not certain of the limits of your gifts. And to alarm Zelensky. To have Iran reconsider its stance, wondering whether it should sip from the cup of engagement or collision with the man who ordered the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, which shook equations and changed the features of maps.
Trump is an exhilarating narrative. A skilled player of his supporters' emotions. An experienced player in unsettling his opponents. A game-maker and a storehouse of surprises. A businessman leaning on the secret of "the deal" to present himself as a remedy for America, claiming he possesses the antidote to halt its decline and restore its greatness. He is not a general who led armies at a monumental turning point, nor is he an experienced expert in international affairs and power balances. He has short phrases that scratch the wounds of a part of the American public. The story can only be complete if its protagonist is enshrined as the victim, surrounded by conspiracies that multiply to prevent the “savior” from fulfilling his mission.
Weeks ago, Trump received a valuable gift. The eighties betrayed Joe Biden, who clings to extending his stay in the White House. Nothing is harsher than the holes of memory on screens. In front of viewers and critics thirsty for the blood of victims, the "Democratic" party was disoriented. Can Trump’s hurricane be countered by a man who mixes up Zelensky with Putin? Biden resists. He wants to enter history as the man who saved America from the return of a looming “danger” named Donald Trump. He aims to save the world from populist drugs, impulsive policies, and from the president who bets on tweets more than carefully studied policies and fleets. From the president who does not hesitate to break norms and the sanctity of dictionaries, nor to flip the table.
Biden is ill-fated. Had memory postponed its betrayals until after the elections, the betrayals within his party and among his friends would not have surfaced. From the holes of memory, storms and advice swirled around him. How harsh it is to ask an old, stubborn horse to leave the race. As if one calamity is not enough for him to fall into an even greater and more severe one.
This is the world of images. Images are faster than missiles and more horrifying. Images attack homes and memories and settle in. How can one resist the image of Trump raising his fist, blood on his cheek?! A young man who "hates Republicans and Trump" gave him the biggest platform and golden opportunity to don the garb of the victim. Biden knows that most of those who rushed to condemn the assassination attempt wished to see the fall of the man they now denounce being erased by a bullet.
Violence is not a strange visitor in America. Assassination has been present since the beginnings. Out of forty-five presidents, four were assassinated. Four others died of natural causes while in the White House. Others faced assassination attempts, and plots against others were thwarted before reaching the stage. It is no exaggeration to say that today's world feeds the tendency toward assassination with rumors and fabricated images, and that it is awash in torrents of hatred flowing through social media platforms in the absence of laws and barriers.
Today's world swims in hatreds. Social media has provided limitless opportunities to express grievances but also gave a huge platform to winds of hatred, revenge, tribalism, and distortion of image and facts. America heads to elections, and the world goes alongside it. Neither America can resign from the world, nor can it. The fate of the empire of economy, fleets, technology, and universities means the future of the global village, drenched in fear, poverty, and injustice along with the appetites of wounded wolves. The former president has stolen the spotlight from the feats of football stars. The results of the "league" in America are the most significant and dangerous. A new chapter in an exciting narrative about a hurricane named Trump.
