The disgraced, twice-impeached, ex-president, Donald Trump announced his presidential candidacy for the 2024 election shortly after the 2022 midterms on Nov. 16. This should terrify everyone, whether they live in the United States or not. The former president is a direct threat to our national and international well being.

It is time for the U.S. as a country to move on from Trump. Our country cannot default back to a president with extremely dangerous political rhetoric and an extremist base. It will only make us weaker and more unstable.

CNN reported that as of Nov. 18, the former president is involved in over eight major lawsuits or investigations. 

These legal battles include lawsuits or investigations coming from E. Jean Carroll, a distinguished American writer and journalist, the United States Department of Justice, the Manhattan District Attorney, Georgia’s Fulton County District Attorney and the New York State Attorney General. 

Yet, all these lawsuits do not seem to be deterring people from supporting his run for president in 2024. A survey taken from Nov. 2 to Nov. 7, by Morning Consult, a data analysis company, shows that 48% of Republican voters would vote for Trump if the 2024 primary was held today.

The fact that 48% of Republican voters would still vote for Trump is scary. It is like they forgot that his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol Building and tried to stop former vice president Mike Pence from certifying the electoral college vote on Jan. 6, 2021. This is an event that can not be forgotten and one that needs to be shown more to Trump supporters so they can see what they really caused and how destructive their actions were.

The former president and his supporters can no longer act in good faith towards the democratic process in our country. They have spread conspiracies, lies and outright denied the election results.

Some even believe that Trump is still the president and that the election was stolen from him. A Monmouth University Poll conducted from Sept. 21-25, reported that six in ten Republican voters still believe that President Biden was not legitimately elected. It has already been proven that there was no widespread election fraud, yet Trump and his supporters continue to push the baseless claims that the Democrats cheated and stole the election. We cannot have this type of person who can continue to lie to the American people as the leader of our country.

Along with all these drastically negative details, there are even more very important events related to the former president that some people in our country seem to have forgotten about. On Aug. 8, Trump’s personal residence, Mar-a-Lago was searched by the FBI. The bureau issued a search warrant, specifying that he could be holding onto classified documents.

According to CNN, the FBI found eighteen “top secret” documents, fifty-four “secret” documents, thirty-one “confidential documents” and 103 “classified” documents.

An NBC News report alleged Trump tried to deflect the truth of the search with an unsubstantiated claim by saying that the FBI planted evidence at Mar-a-Lago. There is so much wrong with this situation that it could put our national security at risk. It is not normal to take documents like these after leaving the White House, and it could potentially impact the political legitimacy of our country.

We must not underestimate the weight and impact of this situation. If Trump is to win the 2024 election and get back into office again, who knows what he will do or what he will take with him when he leaves. Trump has awakened a new era in conservative politics, and it has proven to have disastrous effects on our country. It will only continue to get worse if he is elected again.

Our country will not be able to thrive under another four years of Trump. He will continue to say whatever he deems necessary to get into office again and his reckless behavior will only grow worse. The biggest aspect that will change this coming election is the fact that he will not be able to run again, due to the U.S. presidential term limits he won’t have to worry about being re-elected, he will not care about what happens and will only care about himself and his interests.