« Yesterday morning, Donald Trump made a promise, raise it Wall Street Journal : “citizens, I will fight for you, for your family and your future” “. So, yes, the New York daily wants to believe: “ if the new president devotes his prodigious energy to it, he can achieve good things in the next two years. But if he makes settling scores with his opponents a priority – which he promised to do during the campaign – he will waste his limited time and precious political capital ».
« Donald Trump resurrected, will he reinvent himself? », echoes Le Figaro in Paris. “ The coming months will tell whether the winner of the election wishes to renew his practice of power to leave a mark on history or whether his appetite for revenge is the strongest. (…) Trump candidate promised to settle his scores (…). No one is betting on his magnanimity yet ».
A perilous choice?
The New York Times has no illusions: “ America makes a perilous choice », Says the newspaper. “ Donald Trump showed us during his first term and in the years since he left office that he has no respect for the law, much less the values, norms and traditions of democracy. As he takes the helm of the most powerful state in the world, he is clearly motivated only by the pursuit of power and the preservation of the cult of personality that he has built around himself. ».
Wrong way?
In the Washington Postthe 13 editorialists of the newspaper follow one another for a very long commentary soberly titled: “ he is back ».
A very dark comment: “ where to find optimism? », asks one of the feathers of the Post : « my optimism lies in the fact that the Constitution endures, he says ; that, even if these four years will be long and terrifying, democracy will be bruised but will survive; that we will hold free and fair elections in four years; and that a majority of Americans will recognize, albeit belatedly, that we have chosen the wrong path ».
Another commentator from Washington Post asks: “ Will Trump do some of the things he has proposed? Without a doubt, he answers. But after witnessing the sheer incompetence that characterized his first stint in the White House, I am skeptical that the most radical proposals – mass roundups of migrants, shower of punishment on his opponents, tariffs punitive -. There are still safeguards in our democratic system and in public tolerance of chaos and fanaticism ».
Existential danger for Europe?
Finally, as far as Europe is concerned, be careful, warn The World in Paris: “ Europeans rightly have bad memories of Trump's first term. The second will be even more perilous, in a context where war is raging on their continent, waged by a Russian power which is ignoring all its international obligations and displaying increasing aggressiveness. If Donald Trump stops military aid to Ukraine and negotiates a peace with Vladimir Putin favorable to the invader, the consequences of such an outcome will go well beyond the fate of Ukraine alone, asserts Le Monde: they will cover the entire security of the continent. The risk of division, even fracture, of Europe in the face of such a prospect is real. This danger is existential for the European Union; its leaders must become aware of this, exclaims again Le Monde, and prepare to face it, without waiting for Donald Trump to take office – they are long overdue ».
