Talk of a Donald Trump return to the White House bring Blue Monday vibes today, according to Newstalk Breakfast presenter Jonathan Healy.
The US State of Iowa is preparing to fire the starting gun of the 2024 US Presidential Election this evening as it holds the Republican Party’s first nomination contest or caucus.
Former US president Donald Trump is the runaway favourite to win the nomination – with the severe weather in the US arguably his biggest opponent today.
With temperatures in Iowa feeling as low as -40C in the wind, some campaigning events were paused yesterday – but Mr Trump is warning Republican voters that they ‘can’t sit at home’ and must get out and vote.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, presenter Jonathan Healy said Mr Trump has “poisoned the democratic well” right around the world since arriving on to the political scene.
“We talked about it being Blue Monday and I mean, it is a blue Monday when you're talking about Donald Trump's potential return to the White House,” he said.
“It is remarkable to see Trump still doing so well, albeit amongst the Republican fan base that he had built up when he was in office.
“All that Trump has managed to do since he came onto the political scene is to poison the democratic well and while we may not care about American politics, while they have the right to do what they want in their own country, the spread of that poison has been very detrimental to democracies right around the world.”
Ireland
Jonathan said Mr Trump has also had an impact on Irish politics.
“The language of Trump against immigrants is being echoed by those who are using protests against Ukrainian and other refugees,” he said.
“It is terrifying to think how much damage one individual has done, but it's because of the power of the office that he held, he is able to do that, and I think that we have all been impacted by the language that Trump uses - the dog whistle that he uses to get back into power - and I think it's only going to get worse.”
"Negative impact"
Fellow presenter Ciara Kelly noted that, while Mr Trump has had a “negative impact on the world stage” he has remained a bit-part player internationally since leaving office.
She noted that the world has faced several international crises in his absence.
“In 2022, Putin invaded Ukraine and that wasn't Trump,” she said. “You know, we look at what's happening in Gaza, that's not Trump.”
“There are things happening all around the world and there's an amplification going on all over the world through social media and I suppose in other ways as well, of hatred and anger, and part of me wonders is it cyclical - is Trump a product or a catalyst?
“Because if you look back in history, there hasn't been a century that hasn't been riven by war and it seems to me that humans become agitated, become aggressive, go at each other and it builds.”
While Trump leads the potential Republican nominees, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Governor Ron DeSantis remain in a battle for second.
The Iowa Caucus gets underway at around 1am tonight.
