Daily US Times: In the aftermath of former president Donald Trump’s second acquittal in an impeachment trial, his supporters celebrated confirmed dominance of the Republican party. But as his supporters did so, Wall Street Journal warned: “Mr Trump may run again, but he won’t win another national election.”

The Wall Street Journal also warned moves by the former president other than a run for the presidential nomination in 2024, including a third-party run or “revenge campaign tour”, would only “divide the centre-right and elect Democrats”.

No one so much as Democrats wishes for that analysis to be true: that if Trump insists on remaining a loud voice in US politics, he will succeed only in electing more Democrats.

But the fantasy of Donald Trump’s summary departure from the national political stage is to be guarded against, many warn – and the country that he cannot win the White House again in 2024 has been rejected on both the right and the left.

In reply to the Journal editorial, candidates, tweeted the conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, said: “Trump could win again because it is always a choice between two.”

Trump lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, by 306-232 in the electoral college and by more than 7m votes nationwide. But Joe Biden is the oldest president ever inaugurated and though he has said he may seek a second term, on election day 2024 Mr Biden will be 81. Donald Trump could yet face Vice-President Kamala Harris or another relatively untested Democrat.

About half of Republicans want the former president to stay head of their party. That said, half of American voters want Mr Trump banished from politics altogether, according to a CNBC poll this month that echoed other surveys.

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