The Lens: Donald Trump wants to be US president again, but he’s no longer a shoo-in for Republican Party nomination

Reuters and Yanni Chow

Former US president Donald Trump announced last Tuesday that he would run again for the White House in 2024. He also faces a series of investigations and lawsuits.

In August, he became the subject of a criminal investigation into a trove of top-secret documents he was keeping at his Florida home. Trump has claimed he was in lawful possession of the papers.

He no longer has access to his main communication platform and weapon – his Twitter account – which he previously used to mobilise zealous supporters and attack perceived enemies. Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, however, has suggested he could restore Trump’s account.

And after the Republican Party’s underwhelming performance in the 2022 midterm elections earlier this month, people in the party increasingly want to look forward, not back. Trump is no longer the shoo-in for the party’s presidential nomination that he might have been a year ago.

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Trump’s decision to jump into the 2024 race could help give Joe Biden a second term in the White House, the current Democratic Party president and his aides believe. Biden’s aides described Trump as a vulnerable and defeated man who motivates Democratic Party voters to go to the polls, and reminds undecided voters of the chaos and turmoil that surrounded his presidency.

Biden’s aides also portrayed Trump as a threat to American democracy through his continued false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from him by widespread voting fraud. This claim motivated the attack on US government buildings by Trump’s supporters on January 6, 2021.

Fifty-six per cent of voters in the midterm elections had an unfavourable view of Biden and 41 per cent viewed him favourably, according to a poll conducted by Edison Research, while 58 per cent had an unfavourable view of Trump and 39 per cent viewed him favourably.

• To what extent do you agree that Trump’s move could help US President Joe Biden?

• What are some of the challenges that Trump faces in his bid to be the US president once again?

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Vinci Leung, King Ling College

China is sticking to its zero-Covid policy, and it requires its citizens to be frequently tested. However, this policy affects the economy, and people may have different opinions about it.

China’s zero-Covid policy is having a negative impact on its economy. Lots of industries, shops and companies reduce their productivity as they are affected by lockdowns where coronavirus tests must be conducted within a specific period.

People are not allowed to leave their communities if they are undergoing a lockdown. This means they spend less money on buying things.

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In addition, the zero-Covid policy may be affecting the import of products and materials. Companies may spend more time waiting for imports or even spend more money to speed them up. They may need to increase the prices of their products to make profits and reduce their losses. Therefore, the economy declines.

Some people are not satisfied with this zero-Covid policy. In recent weeks, many workers at a plant in Zhengzhou, which is the world’s largest iPhone factory, have fled due to their frustrations over how Covid has been handled and how they have been treated. They said they had received insufficient provisions of food.

This shows that people do not want to be “trapped” by the country’s strict zero-Covid policies as the resources provided may not be enough and the policy is ineffective as the virus continues to spread. The zero-Covid policy may not be suitable any more.

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