President Joe Biden’s announcement on Sunday to withdraw from the presidential race has sparked speculation about his successor. He has endorsed his Vice President, Kamala Harris, who is of half-Indian descent. However, it is uncertain if she will become the party’s nominee. The upcoming Democratic Party convention in Chicago from August 19-22 is expected to be highly contentious. It is believed that party delegates might endorse Harris before the convention, making the formal endorsement a mere formality.
No presidential candidate has dropped out of a re-election campaign since Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1968. The Democratic Party seems to be in disarray. If Harris becomes the nominee, will she be able to challenge Donald Trump, who has gained sympathy since surviving a recent assassination attempt?
Many believe that selecting Harris will benefit Trump. Two days after the assassination attempt, Trump announced J.D. Vance as his running mate. The Trump-Vance team is seen as a formidable challenge for any Democratic candidate, who will have limited time to mount an effective campaign against them. This prospect is concerning for Europe, which dreads the return of Trump and the possibility of his deputy becoming Vice President.
In his poem "The Second Coming," William Butler Yeats ponders whether humanity is on the verge of revelation or further disaster. His anxiety is captured in the famous lines: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world..." These words resonated with the dark mood in a war-torn Europe, symbolized by the ominous image of a "rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born.
Disclaimer: This image is taken from Reuters.