More people will vote in 2024 than at any other time in history due to national elections taking place in sixty-four countries across five continents, representing 49% of the world’s population. 

These include Russia (where Putin has just been re-elected), Ukraine, and Taiwan, as well as three of the six most powerful economies: the world’s largest democracy (India), the world’s most powerful democracy (the United States), and the United Kingdom. These consequences could ignite a geopolitical tsunami, with shock waves reverberating for years to come.

Stakes Are High: Global Democracy and Women’s Rights

The outcome of these elections will affect everyone, as according to Time magazine, global democracy may hang in the balance, as well as women’s rights, resulting in wars on five continents, especially if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election (and he is currently ahead in the polls). 

You would be mistaken if you thought Trump winning the 2024 US election would only affect America.

The Economist recently described Trump's potential presidency as “the biggest danger to the world.”

Trump’s disinformation policies have negatively influenced and been emulated by countries and leaders around the world such as Israel, Russia, Philippines, South Korea and Egypt. In fact, when Jair Bolsonaro lost the last Brazilian election in 2022, like Trump, he claimed election fraud without evidence and refused to step down until both main political parties, as well as the people of Brazil banded together to oust him. A year ago, he was photographed eating alone in a McDonald’s after fleeing to America, a testament to the prevailing and enduring strength of democracy in Brazil.

However, in America, Trump is now in pole position for another attempt at being commander in chief of the world’s largest military, one that spends more on weapons than the next 20 countries after it and possesses approximately 1,000 nuclear weapons for each continent.

Trump’s practice of election denial and campaigning was also copied in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Eastern Europe. In February, Javier Milei, the President of Argentina elected last December, met Trump at the US’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference. In his speech, Trump adapted his 2016 and 2024 “Make America great again” campaign slogan into “Make Argentina great again” in an attempt to promote conservatism in the South American country. 

Trump being re-elected would be an open invite for wannabe dictators around the world to behave badly and get away with it.

Along with the aforementioned alarming issues of war, violence and ethnic discrimination in 2016, Trump is now spearheading a sinister, underhanded attack on women’s rights as well as a war on abortion rights, which has influenced other countries.

He installed the three Supreme Court justices that overturned the Roe vs Wade court ruling, which means that abortion is effectively banned in the USA, to the point that once the ruling was overturned, women on their way to the clinic to have an abortion were called mid-route to be told it was cancelled.

If Trump wins, women of all ages won’t have permission over their bodies even if sexually assaulted, such as the 11-year-old in America who was raped and then forced to have the baby. If they still try to have an abortion, then they and anyone who helps them will be imprisoned. 

The victim could serve more jail time than the rapist.

Even more worrying considering there is more chance of being raped in America than anywhere else, because of its unwanted title of “rape capital of the world,” due to 463,000 rapes (of victims 12 or older) per year.

But the Republican party wants to go further. Planned legislation means that if a woman has an accidental miscarriage, this could also lead to court proceedings and imprisonment.

“Nymph” by Argentinian artist Diego Gravinese

A US court recently ruled that frozen embryos would be classed as humans, which means that potential parents undergoing IVF could go bankrupt, having to pay for stored embryos for their lifetime as well as their children’s and grandchildren’s lifetimes.

And what will be the effect of having an American president who has been convicted of serial sexual assaults and accused of rape? What kind of role model is that to women, and what message does it send about women’s rights?

Anyone, who read the book, “The Handmaid’s tale” or watched the TV adaptation on Hulu, could be forgiven for thinking it was an unrealistic portrayal of the evaporation of Women’s rights. Considering the direction of women’s rights currently, is this future so implausible?

Smash hit Hulu TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Unconventional Perspective: Debt and Covert Donors

When US courts recently fined Trump approximately 500 million dollars, critics of Trump celebrated. However, there is another unconventional perspective.

From my experience working in risk management and global economic sanctions, I can infer that a person in a position of power and debt is easily susceptible to corruption.
Trump has just enough covert billionaire mega-donors to fund his presidential campaign. 

If he becomes president, he will be a dictator for hire.

Authoritarian governments around the world will queue up to bribe him so that Trump can recover the money he lost in multiple court cases.

Russia, Ukraine, and Taiwan: Geopolitical Tensions

Russia could continue its war in Ukraine as Trump has stated that he won’t unconditionally back NATO, playing right into Putin’s hands, who, just as expected, won a questionable re-election in Russia after an outspoken opponent and one of his main political rivals was killed. Instead of denouncing this behaviour, Trump has suggested that he should also be allowed to kill any of his political opponents.

Across the Pacific, the outcome of the Taiwan elections could inform a great deal of political uncertainty not only in Asia, but also in relations with the US government. Whoever becomes Taiwan’s next president will fundamentally shape Beijing’s approach to the self-governed island, China has repeatedly threatened with invasion. 

The current American president, Joe Biden has said that if China invades Taiwan, they will support and defend Taiwan. 

Though the possibility that China could continue to oppress South Asian countries remains. if China offers Trump money to pay off his $500 million debt — which would be a drop in the ocean compared to how much China would gain by invading and taking over the Taiwanese economy — and if Trump then agreed not to defend Taiwan and China invaded, which Eastern Asian countries would be next? 

China has illegally invaded Tibet and changed the constitution in Hong Kong. It is in a territorial dispute with India and the Philippines, the latter of which could result in war. The former of which already has. As well as regular, violent and fatal border clashes. An attack on the Philippines is unlikely right now as it has defence treaties in place with the USA, but these could be negated after a Trump win, which would clear a path for China to invade. Could China create an Asian version of the USSR? Would other countries like India and Australia get involved in helping Taiwan and the Philippines? If so, could this result in a war in Asia? 

Due to the main source of its economic support, Pakistan would then support China, which would result in a standoff between three nuclear-armed countries in one continent alone. 

The Biden administration has taken action against Chinese factories due to reports that Chinese manufacturing is cheaper because Uyghur Muslims make it. But again, if China offers money to Trump to look the other way, that genocide could continue unopposed, Biden’s restrictive sanctions could be reversed, and Americans would again be permitted to buy goods made by slave labour.

In the meantime, in the Middle East, if Trump is bribed to ignore the ongoing crisis between Israel and Palestine, this could culminate into a full-blown genocide.

Shani Louk, whose image of her in a truck, possibly dead, with HAMAS terrorists won photo of the year to much controversy.

Israel could continue to kill innocent civilians whilst fighting HAMAS without any consequences or safety measures being implemented.

Trump has already stated that if elected, he would block refugees from Gaza entering the United States as well as a re-implementation of his previous Muslim ban. The double hit is that various divisions of Trump’s Make America great again (MAGA) base are appallingly antisemitic. Still, instead of being critical, Trump describes them, as well as his supporters that have assaulted Black Americans, as “good people.”

Depending on the results of the 2024 elections in numerous countries, most notably the US, the consequences will echo across the globe. If Trump wins the next election, other authoritarian, power drunk politicians will follow, and it would certainly make it easier to dismantle democratic frameworks and start a new world order. 

Those in charge who are more interested in lining their pockets instead of helping their people need to be challenged and stopped.