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Neatly book-ending the decline of Fox News's Tucker Carlson was the official, fully anticipated announcement that President Biden will be seeking a second term as president.
Biden called for Americans to unite behind causes of equity, prosperity and freedom, exhorting, "this is not a time to be complacent."
"When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America," Biden said in a campaign ad displaying dramatic footage from the Jan. 6th insurrection, American flags waving around, and demonstrations against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. "And we still are."
"The question we are facing is whether, in the years ahead, we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer," Biden said. "I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too."
Not to be outgunned, former president Trump released a rebuttal on his online platform Truth Social, repeating falsehoods that the last presidential election was "rigged" and calling Biden "the most corrupt president in American history."
Taking a still darker turn, Trump also asserted that Russia would have never invaded Ukraine if he had been reelected president in 2020, and that "Joe Biden has led us to the very brink of World War III."
Trump added that if he is elected in 2024, "We will prevent World War III from happening."
Biden's announcement came on the four-year anniversary of the launch of his 2020 campaign, and it looks like smooth sailing to the Democratic nomination.
Even so, amid high inflation and partisan clashing, Biden's job approval rating leaves a lot of room for improvement at 42.5 percent, and even Biden's supporters admit to reservations about his age. At 80, he would be the oldest person to ever secure a presidential nomination by a major party.
At the same time, Trump also continues to attract the greatest backing among GOP supporters, setting him up for a possible rematch with Biden.
If that happens, it would not only be extraordinary, but only one of a handful of times in presidential election history that two candidates from a major party have run against each other twice in a row.
The last time was during the presidential election cycles of 1952 and 1956, when Republican contender Dwight Eisenhower beat Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II, twice. And you could also technically count Democratic candidate Bill Clinton running against and beating Ross Perot twice in 1992 and 1996, although Perot was not really associated with any major party.
"It is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection," said Trump, who, in June, will turn 77, claiming his administration was marked by "greatness," while Biden's is one of "failure."
The Biden administration's "socialist spending calamity" is feeding inflation, Trump said, adding that "our children are being indoctrinated and mutilated by left-wing freaks and zealots," and the "dollar will soon no longer be the world standard, which will be our greatest defeat in over 200 years."
Maybe the real question that needs to be asked is whether the world can handle another Biden-Trump faceoff.
