WITH Joe Biden’s reluctant withdrawal from the race for the next US presidency and, barring any unexpected earthquakes, it is looking like a very safe bet that Donald Trump will be the next president.

There have been a number of US presidents who were clearly not up to the job and who were completely out of their depth. One only needs to think back to Ronald Reagan and George Bush Jnr as perhaps the two most infamous, but Donald Trump is in another league altogether.

The mainstream media treat Trump as a cartoon figure, a hapless accident-prone clown, while our political leaders try and pretend he doesn’t exist and reiterate the mantra that “our relationship with the USA will remain solid” irrespective of who is president.

The most powerful country on Earth will likely be led by a man who you would be reluctant to give a job as a janitor. He is a convicted criminal and an inveterate liar who behaves like a spoilt child with low IQ.

If this man-child is once more ensconced in the White House after elections on November 5, it will be no joke and will certainly not mean business as usual for international relations. We should all be worried.

At the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this month, among the red, white and blue balloons cascading from the ceiling onto the masses of baseball-capped attendees, while to deafening cheers, Terry Gene Bollea — better known as professional wrestler Hulk Hogan —  tore off his shirt to reveal a vote Trump logo.

Wisconsin delegates were sporting cheese-wedge hats, as a reference to Wisconsin’s renown as “America’s Dairyland.” Others flaunted slogans like “Trump won” and “Unvaxxed and Proud” on their apparel.

All this razzmatazz is more reminiscent of a children’s party than a political gathering and rather confirms the thesis put forward by Prof Keith Hayward in his recent book, Infantilised, about how US capitalism infantalises society. 

Trump’s return to the rally stage was met with the sort of adulation you’d expect if Jesus Christ suddenly descended from heaven. There were euphoria and prayers.

“He was spared by the hand of God!” a man wrapped in a flag chanted. There were few without some kind of Trump-branded clothing.

The display prompted cries of “USA! USA!” but the general tone of the audience was more laid-back. Despite the impact of the shooting on US politics, it looked it was like back to business-as-usual for the Trump campaign road-show. Indeed, much of the imagery and the fact of the attack are being unashamedly exploited.

Perhaps in keeping with a party that has fully unified around Trump after the attempt on his life, most people seemed excited simply to be at the rally. The mood was surprisingly nonchalant among attendees. 

Much of the tone was the usual politics-as-entertainment fare that is a hallmark of Trump rallies. Even in the wake of the attempted assassination, Trump’s rally struck a celebratory tone in this extraordinary US election.

Trump is, though, not merely a cheap kiddies’ entertainer — he has big-name donors behind his campaign, the latest being Elon Musk, the owner of the Tesla car manufacturer and of X, formerly Twitter.

At first glance Musk and Trump might seem odd bed-fellows. One has made cutting greenhouse emissions a major business selling point. The other is a climate change denier, denouncing most forms of clean energy as unnecessary.

One wants to move away from fossil fuels and convert all car sales worldwide to electric vehicles. The other believes EVs will be an economic disaster for the US and that the nation should produce and burn more oil. But such seeming contradictions don’t appear to be obstacles to collaboration.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Musk is planning to support Trump’s presidential campaign by committing $45m a month to a new super political action committee (PAC) backing the former president.

Among other big names backing Trump are: Timothy Mellon, the most prolific donor.

USA Today published a report citing OpenSecrets data that shows Mellon donated $25m each to super-PACs backing both Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jnr. (the Mellon family’s worth is estimated at $14.1 billion).

In addition to their ownership of Mellon Bank, the Mellon family have de facto control of Gulf Oil, Alcoa and Westinghouse among others, and major influence in HJ Heinz, Newsweek, US Steel, Credit Suisse, First Boston and General Motors. 

Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources and long-time Trump friend (his wealth is estimated at $18.5bn) is a big donor, as is Isaac Perlmutter (estimated to be worth $4.3bn).

The latter is the former chairman and CEO of Marvel Entertainment. He and his wife made the largest donation, $10.1m, to a new pro-Trump super-PAC, Right for America.

And then there is Blackstone CEO and co-founder Steve Schwarzman (Forbes valuation: $37.7bn) who plans to donate to Trump, he says, due in part to “the dramatic rise of anti-semitism.” These are just a few of the big donors pouring funds into Trump’s coffers.

Joining the Trump bandwagon is also an assortment of extreme right-wing groups, previously dismissed as the lunatic fringe. Many of which are viscerally anti-semitic. This year, in the view of some observers, such extremists are becoming more influential and acceptable, right-wing extremist rhetoric has moved from the sidelines to being trumpeted from the main stage, and from obscure activists to top party figures.

Nick Fuentes, for instance, a far-right political pundit and live-streamer, who is known for his white supremacist, misogynistic, homophobic and anti-semitic views. He openly praises Hitler. And, in November 2022, he accompanied hip-hop artist Kanye West to dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Trump. He has piggybacked on the Republican conference circuit for years but now he and his followers appear to have become more acceptable. 

Or Charlie Kirk, who spoke from the main stage at this year’s convention. His Turning Point Action PAC’s events have hosted the likes of Candace Owens, the right-wing commentator with a history of anti-semitic comments; the “Pizzagate” and conspiracy theory peddler Jack Posobiec, who has extensive links to extremists.

One thing is certain, this year’s presidential campaign reveals a United States at war with itself as never before and a democratic system that is demonstrably unsuitable for representing the people’s real interests.