Why Donald Trump is running such a dark campaign?

Photo: Charlie Neibergall Associated Press Donald Trump, speaking Tuesday at the Dane Manufacturing facility in Wisconsin

Camille Camdessus – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published at 9:24 a.m. Updated at 9:31 a.m.

• United States

Meeting after meeting, Donald Trump paints an apocalyptic picture of America, ravaged according to him by migrants, galloping inflation and devastating political correctness.

“Our country is heading for ruin,” the Republican, a third-time candidate for the presidency of the United States, repeats over and over again.

According to the tempestuous septuagenarian, the country is suffering from an “invasion” of migrants, whom he accuses of all evils: “raping young American girls”, “poisoning the blood” of the United States, eating domestic animals.

If he does not win the American election, scheduled in a month? “Our country will sink into an economic depression,” he warned during a recent exchange with voters. “Your electricity bill is going to explode.”

“Communist” and “fascist”

Donald Trump had already used this very dark rhetoric during his victorious 2016 campaign, then during his defeat in 2020.

But his speech has since become considerably more poisonous, notes political scientist Julian Zelizer.

“The arguments are the same, the approach is the same, but everything is increased tenfold and with even fewer safeguards,” he notes to AFP.

The change in tone is particularly notable since Kamala Harris entered the race, replacing President Joe Biden at the last minute, in one of the biggest upheavals in recent American political history.

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Without the slightest proof, Donald Trump repeats that his Democratic rival wants to “execute babies” with his abortion program, is “Marxist”, “communist”, “fascist” too, and suffers from “an intellectual deficit”.

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“In the middle of the bullets”

What matters, in the end, is that he is accused of multiplying lies, or inaccuracies.

For this new race for the White House, the tempestuous Republican is relying on a party at his beck and call, which crowned him with fanfare at a spectacular convention in Milwaukee in July, just days after his first assassination attempt.

His base, which does not rule out that his life was saved by an act of God, also swears absolute loyalty to him, despite his legal troubles.

“If someone were to shoot Trump, I would be the first one to dive into the middle of the bullets to try to save him,” Donald Owen, 71, said bluntly, when met by AFP in Michigan.

In addition to the famous red MAGA cap, his supporters now wear t-shirts depicting Donald Trump with his fist raised and his ear covered in blood, in reference to the shots that targeted him during one of his campaign rallies.

“When I lose my mind”

These events, meticulously choreographed down to the little steps that Donald Trump takes as he leaves the stage, have punctuated the billionaire's three campaigns for the House White.

They are also the occasion for sometimes very confusing stories, strange anecdotes about shark attacks, electric battery boats and electrocutions…

These tirades provoke mockery from Democrats, who point to these as many illustrations of Donald Trump's advanced age – he who is now, by far, the oldest in the race.

The 78-year-old candidate, who would be the oldest president to take the oath of office if he wins, brushes aside these reproaches with a wave of the hand.

“I'll let you know when I lose it, I really think I'll be able to tell you,” he told his supporters.

Donald Trump has however ruled out running again in 2028 in case of defeat on November 5, indicating that this campaign would indeed be his last.

The former president, however, did not commit to recognizing the result of the election, raising fears among some that the chaos of 2020 would return if he were defeated.

These tensions culminated in the attack on the Capitol by thousands of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. One of the darkest days in American democracy.