But what motivates these returnees from politics? They once reigned, then were overtaken by bad business. Today, a few years later, they would be damned to get back together.
Lula da Silva, leader of the Workers’ Party, disappointing in the first round, still has every chance of (re)raising himself as head of the Brazilian government in the second round of presidential elections against Jair Bolsonaro on October 30. He is seventy-six years old and has a totally incredible career. Sentenced, imprisoned in particular for money laundering and corruption, he ends up being whitewashed, in large part.
Donald Trump also wants to return to the White House. Without officially declaring himself, he leaves little doubt about his intentions to run for president in 2024. This while he continues to challenge the “gigantic electoral fraud” engineered by Joe Biden. While his active role in the Capitol revolt is confirmed over the course of the investigation, he finds himself caught up in a political-legal-media imbroglio that would make Richard Nixon green with envy.
On a completely different scale, of course, Pierre Maudet’s attempt to return to the Geneva government during next year’s elections. Next to Trump or Lula, it must be admitted that the sulphurous local politician is more like a wet firecracker. His disputes with the law (the Federal Court has yet to render its judgment in the case of the trip to Abu Dhabi) seem very ridiculous compared to those of the former American president and the stakes of his return are very obviously beyond measure.
The fact remains that the men and the mechanisms for regaining power have similarities. Let us first note that rare are the rulers who obtain a second non-consecutive mandate. Trump, if elected, would mark a first in American history. In Geneva, such a re-election remains the rare performance of half a dozen state councilors including James Fazy, a historical figure of the Geneva radicals and a reference for Pierre Maudet. He even attempted a second return in 1864 which ended in failure.
Despite huge disparities, returnees present striking points of convergence. All three are political beasts. They have phenomenal charisma, display unparalleled endurance and determination in adversity, show political sense and incredible energy. They are fundamentally radical in their opinions, divisive, love to fight and never give up. Their relationship to money is cloudy, if not more so. For them, the only judgment that counts is that of the people, justice being either corrupt, politicized or fundamentally unjust. They are obsessed with communication and the media with which they have a love-hate relationship. Trump has declared the New York Times “public enemy number one” and is filing a lawsuit against CNN. Even Fox, which was his presidential mouthpiece, is no longer in favor. Maudet, he no longer hides his aversion to the main media that would have mistreated him and now falls back on a whole Geneva household to communicate exclusively to the press. Finally, ghosts pose as victims of a system of which they themselves are part.
On the darker side, there is the massive use of lies. And for at least two of them, we are not talking about the lie of the ordinary politician but the one that consists in cheating all the institutions, including the citizens. Finally, the ego or excessive egotism as well as an insatiable thirst for power are the engines of their fight for reconquest. Are they, will they make good rulers? The people will decide… Unless, for Trump and Maudet, a court decision cuts them off.
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– Why this thirst for a return to power?
Pierre Ruetschi – Journalist, Executive Director of the Swiss Press Club