Trump … The story and the tornado

Leading the race to the White House is one thing and booking a prominent place in history is another. History is an eraser that only those who leave unremovable marks can resist. To book a place in history, an American president must write his own story and turn it into a decisive chapter of his country’s story. He must be both the hero and the victim in the narrative. We all know the hallmarks of thunderously charismatic figures. He or she must be a leader, not just a president whose appeal wanes once he loses the palace and power.

To be the hero of these stories, you must meet certain conditions. You must have supporters whose faith in you cannot be shaken, no matter how severe the flood of accusations against you. You must haunt your enemies, who constantly stoke the flames of their hatred. Your supporters must see you as a victim if the courts summon you or judges scrutinize your documents and your past. They must see you as the victim when major media outlets hammer away at you and call for a vaccination campaign to protect the country and its people against your “plague,” or when writers compete to lay out your mistakes, which are not trivial, and your sins, which are not few.

To meet all the conditions for a story, your time in power must seem to be a turning point that shapes the destinies of nations, countries and alliances. It must seem like you can unleash storms and fend them off. Like a fighter who is not tempted to retire or withdraw, preferring to fall in the ring, over becoming a former president or failed candidate. You must have a talent for stealing the limelight and imposing headlines, even in the newspapers that dream of defiling your corpse.

You must have a talent for inspiring reassurance and causing alarm. Your choices must be shrouded in obscurity. You must surprise, astonish and unsettle a country, a continent or the global village in its entirety. You must turn your weaknesses into strengths. Turn traps into opportunities to take your enemies out of the race. No one can be certain about what lies in the depths of your soul or the limits of your sympathies and hatred.

To book a place in history, an American president must write his own story and turn it into a decisive chapter of his country’s story.

Ghassan Charbel

Alarming an aging continent called Europe is no simple feat. Nor is unsettling the emperor of China. Nor is keeping the “comrade” on the throne in the Kremlin guessing about just how far your gifts can go. Nor is leaving Volodymyr Zelensky overwhelmed with anxiety. Nor is making Iran go back and forth as it decides whether to drink the chalice of engagement or confrontation with the man who ordered Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s assassination, which altered formulas and changed maps.

Donald Trump has a compelling story. He is a skilled conductor who knows how to manipulate his supporters’ emotions. A player who has honed the skill of unsettling his opponents. He is a playmaker with many surprises up his sleeve. A businessman who uses the art of the “deal” to present himself as the remedy America needs, claiming he has the antidote needed to reverse its decline and make it great again.

He is not a general who has led armies at a critical juncture nor a seasoned expert in international affairs and the balance of power. He has catchphrases that rub the wounds of a segment of the American public. The story is only complete if its protagonist is seen as the victim. It must seem like conspiracies are proliferating and converging to prevent this “savior” from accomplishing his mission.

A few weeks ago, Trump received a precious gift. The 1980s got the best of Joe Biden, who is adamant about extending his stay in the White House. Nothing is more cruel than a memory lapse broadcast on screen that is seen by an audience and by critics thirsty for blood. The Democratic Party is dazed and confused. Can the Trump tornado be stopped by a man who mixes up Zelensky and Vladimir Putin?

Biden is stubborn. He wants to go down in history as the man who saved the US from the return of a “grave threat” named Trump. He wants to save the world from the spell of populism, erratic politics and policies and a president who puts more weight behind tweets than fleets and carefully considered policies. A president who is not reluctant to violate norms and conventions or to turn the tables.

Biden is unlucky. If his memory had only postponed its betrayal until after the elections, the betrayals from within his party and among his friends would not have surfaced. From the holes in his memory, a storm of advice has arisen. It is harsh to demand that an old and stubborn horse pull out of the race. As though one calamity was not enough, he now finds himself facing an even greater and more severe catastrophe.

This is the world of images. Images are faster than missiles and they are more terrifying. Images invade homes and memories and they stay there. How can one resist the image of Trump raising his fist, with blood running down his cheek? A young man who “hates Republicans and Trump” has put him on the grand stage and given him the golden opportunity to present himself as the victim. Biden knows that most of those who quickly condemned the assassination attempt were secretly wishing for the demise of the man whom the bullet grazed.

Violence is not an unfamiliar guest in the US. Assassinations have been part of US political life since the beginning. Out of 46 presidents, four have been assassinated. Natural deaths ended another four terms. Other presidents were the targets of assassination attempts, while plots to eliminate others were thwarted before they could be implemented.

It is no exaggeration to say that the world of today fuels people’s propensity for assassination with rumors, doctored images and the rivers of hatred that flow through social media platforms amid a lack of laws, barriers and restrictions. Today’s world is swimming in hatred. Social media has provided endless opportunities for voicing grievances, but it has also created a vast platform for stoking hatred, revenge and fanaticism, as well as for distorting images and facts.

America will soon head to the polls and the world will go with it. The US cannot resign itself from the world and the world cannot resign itself from the US. The fate of this empire — the economy, fleets, technology and universities — will shape the future of the global village, which is drowning in fear, poverty, injustice and the appetites of wounded wolves. The former president stole the spotlight from the football stars. The results of the American “league” are the most critical and dangerous of all. A new chapter in the fascinating story of a tornado named Trump.

• Ghassan Charbel is editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. X: @GhasanCharbel

This article first appeared in Asharq Al-Awsat.