(Atlanta) The campaign for the November presidential election in the United States promises to be atypical: two very old men, vying for a position that they have each already occupied, will engage in what should be one of the longest electoral face-to-face in American history.
Democratic outgoing President Joe Biden, 81, and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump, 77, obtained enough delegates on Tuesday after primaries in four American states (Georgia, Mississippi, Washington, Hawaii) to each ensure the their party’s inauguration, according to American media estimates.
The results were almost a foregone conclusion, with the two men – the oldest duo of candidates ever nominated – having eliminated the competition. Joe Biden never faced serious opposition and Donald Trump’s last rival, Nikki Haley, threw in the towel on March 6.
Mr. Biden crossed the threshold of 1,968 necessary delegates by winning the Democratic primary in Georgia (South).
And Mr. Trump, thanks to his victory in Washington State (northwest), exceeded the bar of 1,215 necessary delegates.
As the two men prepare to repeat the 2020 match, they exchanged harsh words, setting the tone for a campaign that promises to be bitter for almost eight months.
” Threat ”
“I am honored that the broad coalition of voters representing the rich diversity of the Democratic Party across the country have placed their faith in me once again to lead the party – and the country – at a time when the threat of Trump is bigger than ever,” Mr. Biden said.
While early reinauguration of an outgoing president is the norm, Mr. Trump’s victory in virtually every Republican primary to date has allowed him to secure the nomination much earlier than most opposition candidates in the past. from previous campaigns.
Mr. Trump is the subject of multiple legal proceedings which so far have not hampered his campaign. He assured in a victory press release that the Republican Party remained strong and united behind him.
“Now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country – his name is Crooked Joe Biden – and he must be defeated,” Mr. Trump said in a video broadcast on X.
“Our country is declining, we are a country in serious decline. We are considered almost a joke,” he continued. “We have to win and we have to win by a wide margin because there has never been anyone worse to do the job than Joe Biden.”
Between now and the November 5 vote, the two candidates will now be able to devote all their energy to their face-to-face meeting.
The “mugshot”
Donald Trump is campaigning by directly opposing Joe Biden’s immigration policy, accusing him of having transformed the southern border of the United States into a sieve. But it was also at the request of Mr. Trump that an immigration law, negotiated for months by the two parties, was finally rejected by the Republicans in Congress.
The issue has become particularly sensitive in Georgia where the murder of an American student by an illegal Venezuelan was highlighted by the Republican camp.
Donald Trump has made it the symbol of Joe Biden’s immigration policy, whom he accuses of being too lax in the face of the numerous arrivals at the border with Mexico.
In 2020, Georgia, a traditionally Republican state, surprisingly voted Democratic, contributing decisively to Joe Biden’s victory.
Donald Trump had put pressure on local electoral officials, asking them to “find” the number of votes necessary to close his gap.
The former president was indicted in this case and made his mugshot, taken in the capital Atlanta, a campaign article.
See you in November
Georgia risks being decisive again in November, the gap between MM. Trump and Biden being very close there, according to the polls.
The two men both campaigned there on Saturday. In the wake of a particularly pugnacious speech to Congress on Thursday, Joe Biden went to Atlanta to try to mobilize the African-American and Hispanic electorate.
Donald Trump performed an imitation of a stuttering Joe Biden, mocking as he regularly does the mental and physical form which he considers to be failing in his competitor.
Other potentially decisive states in November, what Americans call “swing states,” include Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.