Last weekend we were about to see a former president of the United States being assassinated.

That we didn’t was due to mere chance – Donald Trump happened to look this way rather than that.

At the same time he showed remarkable presence of mind and also some courage. And he came up from the floor in fighting spirit.

This weekend, on the contrary, we might see President Joe Biden finally give in to reality and give up on his ambition of winning a second term come November.

Fate in the guise of a mild version of Covid seems to have intervened to make what was just an opinion last week a certainty now.

The two men, Trump and Biden, had clashed only once in the only debate held so far but even then there was no comparison between the two.

Matters deteriorated after that with the many mistakes committed by Biden.

He is slow on the uptake, frequently stumbles and falls and he gets moments of total loss.

Yet so far he has been stubborn, egged on by his immediate family. Bit by bit his party has turned against him. Until Covid dealt the last blow.

The November election is thus more crucial than ever. At this point, it is up for grabs and has incalculable effects. Europe is already preparing to get a second round of the Trump treatment – taxation of its exports, paying more for its defence, etc.

It survived the first time. This time there is additionally the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Trump committed to bring the conflict to an end, regardless what that will do to the Ukrainian people.

America under Trump will focus more on the Far East and the crucial relationship with China. Europe will come in later. And it will fight for American interests.

Europe is already preparing itself for such a possible eventuality, as witness the large conference organised by the new British government at the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. Britain under Labour is trying hard to revert the consequences of Brexit, which everyone acknowledges to have been a terrible mistake.

Prime Minister Robert Abela was present at this conference, giving us another example of his loping walk. Otherwise we heard nothing of substance from the Malta side at this conference.

But then, earlier in the week we had the splendid election of Roberta Metsola once again to the Presidency of the European Parliament.

This was accompanied on Net TV by a discussion by some tired heads of constituted bodies followed by scenes of jubilation worthy of a football ground.

What Metsola said, and more importantly, what her adversary said, was swept out.

The same happened on Thursday at the election of Ursula von der Leyen to President of the Commission – the accent of the media that bothered to report was on those who opposed her rather than on the horse-trading that saw her promising this and that to the French, and to the agricultural lobby, etc. She even accepted the Maltese proposal of a Commissioner for the Mediterranean.

But then this is Malta – up in arms about the power cuts that left all Gozo in the dark (but not some enterprising citizens who promptly commandeered a mobile generator unit and lit up the festive centre of Rabat in time for the band march – eat your heart Miriam Dalli was the more civilised of comments on the social media.

Joking apart, these power cuts could have the same consequences as last year – only last year it was Miriam’s CEO that got thrown under the bus. This time there is a position in Brussels that could fit in nicely with Dalli’s ambition.

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