Most political leaders across Europe must be horrified at the notion that Donald Trump may be re-elected President of the United States.
The main concerns in
Portugal are about Trump’s denial of global warming and his criticism of NATO
countries. This could cause more climate, military and economic insecurity.
The election is still more
than a year away, but European officials are already preparing for a Republican
defeat of the democrat Joe Biden with whom Europeans have got on exceptionally well.
The United States has
become a strongly divided nation, largely because of Trump. An increasing
number of Americans are choosing to move to Portugal. Nearly 1.4 million people
of Portuguese descent live in the US today, but the number has been decreasing.
Meanwhile Trump continues to have many millions of far-right followers all
across America.
There are concerns that
the present close cooperation between the US and the EU on all major issues could
abruptly end with a government led by Trump or even his current far-right rival
Ron DeSantis.
A recent fact check by
the broadcaster CNN reported that
“Trump has been using wildly inaccurate figures to minimise the threat of
climate change.” For example, he has repeatedly defended his opinion by using “imaginary
statistics” on the non-extent to which sea levels are expected to rise. Yet
accurate figures on rising sea levels are precisely one of Portugal’s biggest
climate change worries. Tourist resorts as well as towns and cities are
expected to be flooded if not submerged if the levels continue to rise as
feared. Trump told Fox News last month that talk of sea level rises was all
“nonsense”. As for the severe or extreme droughts and wildfires predicted as we
head towards summer, Trump apparently could not care less.
While Portugal is well
known to be one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe to climate change,
the United States is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas polluter and,
like China, India and Russia, it is still not doing enough to bring down CO2
levels. It is likely to do even less under a Trump administration.
On the war in Ukraine,
Trump said last week that ending it would be a priority for him. On the surface
that sounded good. In typical Trump rhetoric he went on to say he could end it
in 24 hours, but didn’t say how. The trouble with this sort claptrap, on top of
Trump’s past harsh criticism of NATO, is that it could weaken the bipartisan support
for the alliance across the America Congress and amongst the American people.
Having escalated into a full-scale war, the situation in Ukraine is now
threatening to expand and bring Europe back to an even more precarious
situation than when Trump was last in power up to a year and a month before
President Putin’s “special military operation”.
Trump and Putin share a
common characteristic: they disregard the truth. Putin shows no sign of ending the war, but it
is clear he would greatly welcome a return of Trump to the White House. The
Kremlin leader must be well aware that European countries have scaled back
their military capabilities since the Cold War. Europe could not replace the US
dominance in providing weaponry and ammunition for Ukraine, meaning Russia
could soon be victorious and Ukraine could cease to exist as an independent
sovereign state.
Portugal has provided
military equipment to Ukraine, though on a far smaller scale than other
European countries, especially the UK and Germany. All European countries,
including Portugal, but more especially the UK and Germany, are now going
though an economic crisis. As of last week, Germany is in recession.
The war in Ukraine and
the energy crisis have disrupted the EU economy. In Portugal, an improved outlook amid
persistent challenges is forecast. Meanwhile,
the further tightening of Western sanctions against Russia announced at the G7
summit in Japan last week indicate that the sanctions have so far failed in the
face of strong Kremlin resistance.
So much is hanging in
the balance with Trump’s re-election hopes. What are his chances of winning? Opinion
polls place him well ahead of his only republican opponent, Ron Desantis. Polls
also suggest that public support for Biden’s staunch backing of Ukraine’s war
efforts are falling, but that the odds are in favour of him winning a second
term. That could well change in the months ahead.