Third, the Biden campaign wants this election to be less a referendum on the president’s first term and more a choice on a second Trump term, given his predecessor remains unpopular nationally as well. Trump’s undisciplined call for cuts to social security are one such example of his making it easier for Biden to execute on that strategy.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM A SECOND TRUMP TERM
In the US, a return to power of Donald Trump would have significant consequences domestically.
A Trump victory will result in efforts to root out the so-called “deep state” of civil servants, impacting the US government’s ability to function as it does now. His planned harsh crackdown on immigration will cause domestic pain socially and economically, as will a pullback from international affairs and climate action.
With global security risks more delicate than usual, there will be considerable impact on the rest of the world as well.
A second Trump term would mean weakened commitment to Ukraine and a significant reduction of US engagement in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), if the US were to remain at all.
The fallout from such a shift would hit Asia as well, with countries such as Japan and South Korea likely to seek their own nuclear weapons, which would impact their relations with China and could have a spillover effect regionally.
In the Middle East, a Trump administration would be less likely to get involved in restraining Israel in its retribution against Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack, which the Biden administration has started to do more publicly. This could lead to further escalation of the conflict, which would directly affect Singapore’s maritime industry.