With two New Year’s resolutions, Donald Trump could get a more favorable legacy

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Donald TrumpDonald TrumpOne in three Americans says violence against the government is sometimes justified: poll Seven most vulnerable governors facing re-election in 2022 Sunday shows preview: Omicron surge continues; approaching the anniversary of the January 6 attack MORE is one of the most divisive people in the United States since the Civil War. He has huge responsibility for America’s disastrous response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, legitimizing white supremacy, and lying about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

However, with two widely published New Year’s resolutions, Trump can serve his country well while far to do toward securing a more desirable legacy. Here’s how:

1) Until recently, Trump’s endorsement of vaccines was hot. Three times he refused to take a picture while getting a jab. Vice President Mike PenceMichael (Mike) Richard PenceThis year, Mike Pence must decide to be our next president What my 2021 inbox revealed about the 2024 GOP race. live TV events. Trump was notable in his absence when former presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and their wives participated in a public service announcement urging Americans to get vaccinated. On August 21, 2021, at a rally in Cullman, Ala., Trump said, “Get the vaccine. I made. Good.” But when the crowd booed, he retreated: “No, it’s okay. that’s okay You got your freedoms. But it just so happened that I got the vaccine. “

In late December 2021, Trump, who knows how to blow the horn, changed his melody. Trump boasted, as always, that developing vaccines on record time was a “historic” achievement of his administration and urged his supporters to “take credit – we saved tens of millions of lives.” But this time, he shrugged the boos that followed his revelation that he took a booster shot: “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t. That is – there is a very small group there. ” Trump also slammed conservative media personality Candace Owens: “You see, the vaccine results are very good, and if you get it, it’s a very small form. People don’t die when they get the vaccine. . ” When President BidenJoe BidenKentucky declared governor the state of emergency after a powerful storm Seven most vulnerable governors facing re-election in 2022 At least 20 states that will raise the minimum wage starting Saturday MORE have given credit to ” previous administration and our scientific community “for making the United States one of the foremost countries to get the vaccine, Trump expressed surprise and appreciation:“ I think he did something very well. You know it has to be a healing process in this country, and that will help a lot. ”

Trump’s first New Year’s resolution should redouble his efforts – in media appearances and rallies – to reduce vaccine skepticism, which remains high among his ardent Republican supporters. He can – and certainly will – continue to claim that commands are not the answer. But as the Omicron variant proliferates, Trump may look back and forth, taking credit for the speed with which safe and effective vaccines have become available, while advancing, to more than one, the “cure process in this country . “

2) For Trump, the road back to the White House is full of uncertainties and hurdles. The former president will be 78 years old in 2024, is overweight, and, according to Franklin Graham, “the man is not eating well.” Trump will face potentially damaging revelations coming from a blizzard of litigation: a criminal indictment by the Trump Organization for tax fraud by the Manhattan District Attorney; a related civil investigation by New York State Attorney General Letitia James into possible inflation of property values ​​to obtain bank loans; a criminal investigation by the District Attorney of Fulton County, Ga., into violation of Georgia election laws; indictment of police officers injured in the attack on the U.S. Capitol; a U.S. Supreme Court decision on the release of National Archives documents related to the attack on the U.S. Capitol; and, of course, the ongoing investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives ’Select Committee into whether he obstructed justice and incited a coup attempt.

Support for a Trump re -election campaign has declined: 59 percent of Americans don’t want him to run, with an additional 14 percent “unsure;” 23 percent of Americans who voted for Trump in 2020 don’t think he should be on the ballot in 2024, and most independents agree. When the former president is matched against other potential GOP presidential aspirants, only 44 percent of Republican voters will vote for him (down from 58 percent in August), a result that could encourage one or more. to his rivals to throw their hats in the ring.

A former casino magnate who hates defeats and losers and doesn’t care about all management, Trump may decide not to roll the dice. A New Year’s resolution, framed as a desire to put the welfare of his fellow Americans before personal and partisan interests, accompanied by a challenge to President Biden to contribute to the unity of the country by bowing down as well, will almost certainly raise the esteem of millions of Americans, across a different ideological spectrum, and-who knows-spread the narrative, despite the charges that it was a rebranding campaign, that The Donald was an old statesman who helped maintain democracy.

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the co-author (with Stuart Blumin) of “Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.”

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