Wars, plagues, terrorist attacks…they have nothing on Donald Trump.

Trump is Orange, you see. And Orange Man Bad.

The Economist sees a potential Trump victory in apocalyptic terms, and opens with an echo of the Communist Manifesto:

A shadow looms over the world. In this week’s edition we publish The World Ahead 2024, our 38th annual predictive guide to the coming year, and in all that time no single person has ever eclipsed our analysis as much as Donald Trump eclipses 2024. That a Trump victory next November is a coin-toss probability is beginning to sink in.

Mr Trump dominates the Republican primary. Several polls have him ahead of President Joe Biden in swing states. In one, for the New York Times, 59% of voters trusted him on the economy, compared with just 37% for Mr Biden. In the primaries, at least, civil lawsuits and criminal prosecutions have only strengthened Mr Trump. For decades Democrats have relied on support among black and Hispanic voters, but a meaningful number are abandoning the party. In the next 12 months a stumble by either candidate could determine the race—and thus upend the world.

This is a perilous moment for a man like Mr Trump to be back knocking on the door of the Oval Office. Democracy is in trouble at home. Mr Trump’s claim to have won the election in 2020 was more than a lie: it was a cynical bet that he could manipulate and intimidate his compatriots, and it has worked. America also faces growing hostility abroad, challenged by Russia in Ukraine, by Iran and its allied militias in the Middle East and by China across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea. Those three countries loosely co-ordinate their efforts and share a vision of a new international order in which might is right and autocrats are secure.

For reference, the Manifesto begins: “A spectre is haunting Europe.”

“A shadow looms over the world…” For God’s sake, if you want to be dramatic at least don’t echo Karl Marx. It is too obvious and too ripe for ridicule. And ridicule it I will.

NEW: The Economist’s annual “World Ahead” guide identifies Donald Trump as the biggest global danger of 2024.

“[I]n the 38 years that we have published this guide, no single person has ever eclipsed our analysis as much as Donald Trump eclipses 2024.” pic.twitter.com/2xBYJRfo8z

— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) November 16, 2023

By now you know I think Trump is a jerk, and also that when he faced his ultimate test in COVID he blew it. I think there is a much better choice for Republicans to face Joe Biden or one of his possible replacements in 2024.

But gee whiz, guys, with all this talk of Trump bringing the apocalypse you would think we didn’t have experience with the guy as president, and let me tell you: most people in America think the country would be better off if Joe Biden hadn’t won in 2020. They regret his election.

See the polls, dudes.

The big problem with the apocalyptic talk, the claims of fascism and threats to democracy is this: when Trump lost, he groused, but he didn’t try to stay in office. All that talk of insurrection is absurd on its face. He left. He didn’t sic the FBI or CIA or military on anyone–in fact, all these guys engaged in a conspiracy against him, not the other way around. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff actually called China to tell them he wouldn’t obey orders from the president.

THAT is treason, and he should have been charged with it.

The simple fact is that Joe Biden has in fact already done almost everything that the Left claimed Trump would be guilty of: siccing the FBI on his political enemies, trying to put his political opponent in jail, and barreling us down the path to World War III.

The Economist looks at this and worries that Trump might win?

I hate to tell you folks, but London is falling to Muslim extremists, and you are worried that Orange Man might do what he did in his first term–you know, bring peace to the Middle East.

We keep on hearing about how Trump was a Russian shill, but Trump was the only president in the last 12 years who didn’t have Russia invade Ukraine. Trump brought the Abraham Accords. Biden brings us war in the Middle East.

The Establishment isn’t worried about Trump because he is a danger to the world. They worry about Trump because he is a danger to their power.

A spectre haunts the world: the transnational elite. I hope they lose, whether to Trump or DeSantis.