Columnist argues US would have been better off if Trump won in 2020

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Political columnist Ed Kilgore argued in a piece published Sunday that the U.S. would have been better off if President Donald Trump had won re-election in 2020 over former President Joe Biden.

“A Trump reelection in 2020 would have made the 2024 election in whose shadow we stand a very different proposition. There would have been no Trump campaign of vengeance to rouse the MAGA faithful and desensitize the public to his failings,” Kilgore wrote in New York Magazine’s Intelligencer. 

Kilgore acknowledged in the column that the idea seemed nuts, noting that Trump would have inherited several burdens had he remained in office. He wrote that everyone would agree that it would have been good if there were no Jan. 6 capitol riot. 

“The effect of this scenario on the Democrats of 2024 would have been even more dramatic. A defeated Joe Biden would have gracefully ended his political career in 2021. Kamala Harris would have suffered two debilitating losses in the 2020 presidential cycle, once as a presidential nomination candidate and once as a veep nominee; no one would have considered her a serious candidate for 2024,” he added.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on board Air Force One, en route from Joint Base Andrews, Md., to Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., Friday, July 4, 2025.  (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Kilgore said the Democratic Party would have had a normal nominating process leading up to 2024 and that the party would have overcome its divisions between the progressive and establishment wings.

A Trump win in 2020, according to Kilgore, would have allowed Democrats and the former president to avoid the key issues that prompted Americans to vote for Trump in 2024, including immigration, inflation and Biden’s age. 

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“The Democratic Party would not be defending record inflation, uncontrolled immigration, too much ‘wokeness,’ a mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan, and all sorts of other problems. No one would be writing exposés about an aging Democratic president losing his grip but hanging grimly on to power. Democrats could have managed a fresh start and a likely 2024 win without losing ground with key constituencies or earning the bitter enmity of so many unhappy young people,” he added. 

Kilgore said that the Democratic administration’s alignment with several negative realities made Trump’s political comeback possible. 

Former President Joe Biden talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, in Washington, after returning from Rehoboth Beach, Del.  (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

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The political columnist argued that Trump’s comeback led to “horrific policies” and a GOP that is “devoted to hatefulness and extremism.” 

He also said that it also left the Democratic Party in shambles, as they lack a clear path forward.

President-elect Donald Trump shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden at Trump’s inauguration in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC (Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images)

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“Would it have been worse had Trump won in 2020? I don’t think so,” he concluded.

Hanna Panreck is an associate editor at Fox News.