Fear-mongering Trump says nothing is safe if 'destroyer' Harris wins – even Christmas

If doesn't win next month's US election, America is doomed – or so he claims.

From economic collapse to the death of Christmas, his apocalyptic predictions are back, this time bigger and better and aimed squarely at his presidential rival

Four years ago, warned that a victory would unleash the worst depression since 1929, with breadlines snaking around the block and the stock market diving faster than a peregrine falcon locked onto its prey.

Instead, stocks soared, the economy stabilised, and 's predictions fell flatter than a pancake.

Now, with his successor stepping aside, the businessman has pulled out the old fear-mongering handbook, dusted it off, and is waving it about again, claiming a presidency will bring a "massive stock market downturn".

It's classic . Hyperbole that would make a Shakespearean actor blush and a flair for drama that would put the West End to shame. His 2020 predictions didn't pan out, but that hasn't stopped him from using the same dark warnings.

READ MORE:

"A vote for Biden," he said back then, "is a vote to completely eradicate your auto industry." The auto industry is still running.

"The suburbs will be abolished," he declared. They weren't.

"He'll take away your guns, your oil, and your God," warned ominously. Gun and oil production hit record highs under , and the president, a practising Catholic, hasn't done much to hurt God either.

Yet none of that seems to matter to and his 'Make America Great Again' mob. For he'll have anyone believe next month's election is an "existential battle" for America's soul.

, in world, is the destroyer-in-waiting. He insists that if she wins, she'll defund the police, take away the guns, and kill off fossil fuels on "day one".

And yes, once again, is warning that Santa is at risk. According to him, "wants no Merry Christmas" despite his bizarre claim that he singlehandedly saved the holiday in 2016.

The irony, of course, is that continues to insist that the election is his to lose - unless, that is, it's rigged. He's using the same line he peddled four years ago when he declared a victory was only possible through fraud.

READ MORE:

READ MORE:

At one point, gave half the US hope when he said he'd leave the country if he lost, but like his dire predictions, it failed to materialise. What he has perfected is his ability to stoke fear, to frame every political race as an existential crisis for the country, if not the world

With now in his crosshairs, has returned to calling his opponents "Trojan horses" for communism and promising chaos if they take office. But, if the last election taught America anything, it's this: 's dark prophecies tend to have all the staying power of a soggy biscuit.

The real question for voters come November 5 isn't whether his apocalyptic visions will come true but whether his fear tactics will whip up enough voters to put him in the White House for another round.