Nigel Jones

Biden vs Trump is a contest in which we all lose

Donald Trump and Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign (Credit: Getty images)

Overnight President Biden announced that he intends to run again for the White House in 2024 and beat Donald Trump in a rematch of their 2020 contest. This would be funny if it wasn’t a tragedy for both the US and the wider world.

We thus have the prospect of a man who will be 82 in two years’ time, and is already, in the words of historian Niall Ferguson ‘manifestly senile’, facing off against a 78-year-old Trump if, as widely expected, the orange man announces another presidential run next week. The absurd spectacle of two vain old men fighting for a future neither will live to see is enough to make friends of the US weep.

Biden made his statement even as the votes in the US midterms were still being counted. Although he treated those elections as a glorious victory for his Democratic party, the reality is that the Republicans still look likely to gain control of the lower House of Representatives.

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