Donald Trump carried by the collective amnesia of the American people

Photo: Alejandra Rubio Agence France-Presse Donald Trump at a political rally in Reno, Nevada, on October 11, 2024

Fabien Deglise

Published yesterday at 4:20 p.m. Analysis

• United States

In the final stretch of the American election campaign, the Democratic clan, like Republican voices critical of Donald Trump, seems more determined than ever to remind the present of the dark past and controversial statements of the former president.

The strategy thus seeks to counter, some 20 days before the election, a certain collective amnesia regarding the true nature of the character, but above all to thwart a dangerous complacency based on his tumultuous years in power, while millions of Americans say they are ready, despite his track record, to entrust him with the keys to the White House again.

“It is striking to note that voters now view Donald Trump's presidency in a much more favorable light than when he occupied the Oval Office,” says in interview at DevoirPaul Pierson, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. “The bad memories seem to have faded, which is not unusual for former presidents whose approval ratings typically rise in the years after they leave Washington. Normally, this is not a big deal, because former presidents don’t have the opportunity to run again. But in the current context, it could become a determining factor, especially in a close race like this one, where any form of nostalgia could be enough for Donald Trump to reach the White House again. With enormous consequences,” adds the academic, co-author of the essay American Amnesia. How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper (free translation: American Amnesia, or How the War on Government Led Us to Forget What Made America Prosper).

Conjuring up a curse: That’s the task that Vice President Kamala Harris was undertaking on Wednesday, from the small village of Washington Crossing, north of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, warning voters about a Donald Trump who she says will seek “absolute power” if re-elected. She recalled his lack of respect for the Constitution and his attacks on the foundations of American democracy, particularly by refusing to admit defeat in 2020 and inciting an insurrection against the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“Anyone who trampled on our democratic values ​​as Donald Trump did, anyone who called for the revocation of the Constitution of the United States as Donald Trump did, must never again stand behind the seal of the presidency of the United States. Never again, never again,” she said, speaking at a bipartisan political rally attended by about 100 Republicans, including former Rep. Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan.

Read also

• Harris heads to Wisconsin, Trump steps up his rhetoric
• Why is the abortion issue so divisive in the United States?
• Sheriff, for better or for worse

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

Alarming instability

On Monday, from Erie, in the same state, Ms. Harris called her opponent “increasingly unstable and deranged” after he admitted the day before that he might deploy the military, if elected, to counter the American “enemy within” — meaning his political opponents, the “crazy radical left,” according to him. Comments that, for Kamala Harris’ campaign team, “should alarm every American who cares about their freedom and security,” it said in a statement.

As for the current president, Joe Biden, he hammered home Tuesday night that Donald Trump was once again seeking to get elected “to avoid going to jail,” while recalling that the man was found guilty last May of 34 counts by a citizen jury in the Manhattan district. The verdict in this case of falsifying business documents aimed at covering up a sexual affair during the Republican’s 2016 campaign is due on November 26. And Biden said he was eager “to hear it.”

Thwarting the American electorate’s memory problems: the stakes are high for the Democrats, who are facing a skilled political opponent who, since the end of his presidency, has managed to reshape reality to his advantage. He has made us forget the chaos of his years in power, which were marked by a surprising turnover of personnel within his government, by a chaotic management of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to the death of more than 450,000 Americans during his last year in power. A study published in 2021 by The Lancetconcluded that the death rate in the United States was 40 percent higher than in comparable countries, and that many of those deaths could have been avoided if Trump had handled the crisis more responsibly.

He has left in the mists of time his attempt to overturn an election, his rejection of a peaceful transfer of power after a defeat he has yet to acknowledge, his trade war with China that cost the United States hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions of dollars in GDP, his romances with dictators Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, his broken promises to revive infrastructure or replace the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — nicknamed “Obamacare” — with a better, cheaper program, his two impeachment trials, and especially his nine years of chaos, scandal, and racist comments.

A Renewed Image

Earlier this month, a Gallup poll indicated that 60% of Americans found Kamala Harris more likeable than Donald Trump, at 38%. But nearly 60% of those same Americans believe the Republican candidate is a “strong, energetic leader,” compared to 48% who think the same of Kamala Harris. About 61% of respondents also say the former president “can get things done,” while the Democrat only has 49% of respondents on this point.

The poll also found that over the course of Trump’s three presidential campaigns—2016, 2020, and 2024—the Republican candidate has improved perceptions of his ability to “exercise good judgment in a crisis,” his “effective management of government,” his “consideration of citizens’ needs,” and his “honesty and credibility.”

“When people are politically disengaged and only get their information from social media, which is full of misinformation, it’s easy to lose track of the truth and the real issues,” Tara McGowan, a former American journalist and political strategist who runs the pro-democracy news network Courier, said in an interview. “All news organizations have a responsibility to make sure that Americans understand not only what Donald Trump has done in the past, but more importantly, what he has said he will do in the future.”

She adds: “Most Americans don’t follow political news closely, and the 8 million new voters who turned 18 since the 2020 election were children when Trump was president. If we are to save our democracy, we must do more to reach Americans online with factual information that fosters informed civic participation.”

On Wednesday, a former NBC marketing executive publicly apologized for helping promote Donald Trump on his reality show The Apprentice that aired on the network from 2004 to 2015, and for creating “a monster” in the process. He said the show helped “create a false narrative that made him appear more accomplished than he was” and portrayed “a positive image of him that wasn't true.”

An image that 47% of Americans continue to “buy” in 2024 by expressing an intention to vote in favor of the politician with autocratic overtones, against 49% who prefer the Democrat Kamala Harris, according to the most recent compilation of the New York Times.