2020-02-29 New Zealand Listener

24 LISTENER FEBRUARY 29 2020

D

onald Trump has always been a vengeful man. In

1992, he told an interviewer that he “absolutely

loved” getting even with people who were “dis-

loyal” to him. And Virgin Group founder Sir Richard

Branson has spoken of a private lunch at Trump

Tower during the 1990s at which the future presi-

dent repeatedly vowed to

devote the rest his life to

“destroying” five individuals who’d refused

to help him when he was facing bankruptcy.

If only Trump had kept his word. The

destruction of five American fat cats would

seem a small price to pay for keeping him

otherwise occupied and, therefore, out of

the White House.

Assuming the fat cats survived, they’re probably off the hook

since Trump is now preoccupied with exacting revenge on the cast

of hundreds who brought us the Mueller probe, impeachment and

the various other investigations that he has derailed or stonewalled

into stagnation. There’s also the small matter of winning re-election.

The two are related in the sense that Trump will interpret re-election

as a green light to get medieval on pretty much anyone who didn’t

kiss his ring during his first term.

So, if impending doom really does concentrate the mind won-

derfully, you’d think all that matters to the Democratic Party is

nominating a candidate who can defeat Trump on November 3.

As things stand, you’d be wrong. At present, Trump’s re-election

seems significantly more likely than it did

before the primary process got under way.

Monitoring the Democratic candidates’

prospects throughout the year or so leading

up to the Iowa Caucus on February 3, one

kept coming back to two factors: first, that

virtually every poll had former vice president

Joe Biden as the most popular Democrat

nationwide and beating Trump – often by

double digits – in a head-to-head; second, history tells us that the

public mood doesn’t really start to reveal itself until citizens start

casting votes. Although the Iowa Democrats made such an unholy

mess of their caucus that the exact final result may never be known,

one thing was unmistakably clear: Biden bombed. And, a week later

in New Hampshire, he bombed again.

OLD WHITE

GUYS

For all the effort US Democrats have put into

trying to unseat Donald Trump, they’re in danger

of squandering their last chance. by PAUL THOMAS

GE

TT

Y^ I

MA

GE

S

ESSAY

Sanders causes

consternation among

those who believe a self-

styled democratic socialist

is simply unelectable.