Trump's path to the White House is increasingly difficult

 

WOLFGANG HANSSON

Published: Less than 3 hours ago  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

COLUMNISTS 

Yesterday was a day of disaster for ex-president Donald Trump.  

The candidate he supported in the re-election to the Senate lost clearly. Leading people in his company Trump International were convicted of tax crimes.  

The road to a comeback in the White House looks increasingly difficult. 

Admittedly, there are almost two years until the next presidential election and a lot will happen.  

But Donald Trump could have gotten off to a better start to his campaign, which he launched a few weeks ago, just after the Democrats did a much better than expected midterm election and a number of the candidates supported by Trump lost in key states. 

Former US President Donald Trump Photo: Andrew Harnik / AP  

The loser label continues to stick to Trump after the Senate by-election.  

There, Trump backed former American football star Herschel Walker. It was only thanks to Trump's support that Walker received the Republican Party nomination.  

But last night he clearly lost, against the pastor Raphael Warnock.  

In a normal situation, Trump would have traveled to Georgia to support Walker before the election. But both the Republican Party and Walker himself made it clear that Trump was better off staying out of the way, given how poorly many of the Trump-backed candidates fared in the midterm elections. 

Raphael Warnock Raphael Warnock Photo: John Bazemore/AP  

But even in Trump's absence, Walker could not defeat Warnock.  

The election may seem inconsequential because Democrats already have a majority in the Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote. 

But the fact that they now extend their majority to 51-49 has great significance.  

It will be easier for the Democrats to get their nominations through and take control of the work of the Senate.  

* A lone partisan Democratic senator can no longer block important decisions the way West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin did during Joe Biden's first two years.  

* It reinforces the feeling that Democrats fared much better in the midterm elections as a whole than expected.  

* Which raises Joe Biden's stock ahead of the 2024 presidential election if he runs for re-election. Trump's path to the White House is increasingly difficult, writes Wolfgang Hansson.  

Trump's path to the White House is increasingly difficult, writes Wolfgang Hansson. Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT

For Donald Trump, the opposite applies.  

The success of the Democrats in Georgia is another food for thought for how the Republican Party should approach Trump's attempt to be re-elected president.  

The result is a clear sign that Trump has lost attractiveness in states where it is very even between Democrats and Republicans - precisely the states that a Republican candidate must win in order to be elected president.  

There is still no open Republican challenger to Trump, but a number of heavy names are stomping in the wings. The result in Georgia is yet another factor that could make them finally dare to challenge the real estate billionaire.  

As if the setbacks in the political arena are not enough, yesterday Trump suffered another blow when loyal and close associates of his company Trump International were convicted of tax crimes and fraud. 

Although Trump was not on the docket, testimony during the trial showed that he personally paid for some of the exclusive benefits that top executives received without including them in his tax returns. 

If nothing else, it cements the image of Trump as a proposed fraud. 

It will serve as perfect ammunition for the Democrats as they try to smear Trump as much as possible during the election campaign. 

On top of these setbacks, additional lawsuits await Trump. For bringing top-secret documents from the White House, for his role in the storming of Congress on January 6th of last year, and for his attempt to pressure Georgia election officials to change the election results in Trump's favor.  

That's a lot of baggage to lug around even for a tough-skinned bulldozer like Trump.  

His core of supporters will buy Trump's message that it's all about a witch hunt from political opponents. But the traditional furrow of the Republican Party increasingly doubts whether Trump is really the right person to lead the country.  

For a long time, the general view among Republicans was that only candidates with Trump's blessing could win. Now, instead, an image is beginning to be established that support from Trump is a sure path to loss.