Former President Donald Trump is escorted to a courtroom in New York. AP
Former President Donald Trump is escorted to a courtroom in New York. AP
Washington, United States: On Wednesday, US voters evaluated a particularly unpredictable 2024 presidential election environment in which the main Republican contender, Donald Trump, is already facing trial and the incumbent, Joseph Biden, has yet to announce his candidature.
On Tuesday, Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts stemming from his attempts to quiet harmful personal information during his victorious 2016 presidential campaign.
Donald Trump rose from 1980s playboy real estate billionaire to TV reality show star in the 2000s, then right-wing populist president became the first current or former commander-in-chief to face criminal charges.
Despite the humiliation of being arrested in a New York courthouse, surveys show Trump to be the GOP candidate with the most support.
Moreover, his poll numbers have risen as his legal troubles have grown, making it difficult for his closest competitor, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to get traction.
Far from cowed, Trump is doubling down on extreme rhetoric, painting himself in a speech after his release Tuesday as the victim of a “Trump-hating judge” and “massive election interference.”
On Wednesday, he called on his Truth Social app for Republicans in Congress to “DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI” in response to what he claimed is the “ABUSE OF POWER” by the Department of Justice and chief federal law enforcement body.
Trump attorney Todd Blanche said his client is “upset.”
Troubles pile up
Notwithstanding his bluster, Trump, 76, is in serious jeopardy.
Over his decades in the public spotlight, he has demonstrated an extraordinary ability to avoid legal trouble, whether during his numerous business battles or as president, when Republicans acquitted him in an unusual two impeachment proceedings.
Yet, Trump is now in the hands of the New York state court system, where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is waging a ferocious prosecution.
He also risks the wrath of Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing his case in New York and cautioned against “comments that have potential to incite violence.”
Even if some observers have questioned the strength of Trump’s argument in New York, his biggest troubles may be elsewhere.
According to reports, a high-level investigation into his stockpiling of top-secret White House papers at his private Florida Mar-a-Lago property is gathering steam. Another criminal investigation over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden but refused to acknowledge, is underway in Georgia.
Next year, the legal and political calendars will most certainly overlap, creating unprecedented degrees of instability.
The Manhattan court will reconvene on 4 December, with a trial scheduled for early in 2024. Trump, meanwhile, would in theory be campaigning hard for the Republican presidential nomination — with the first contests scheduled for 5 February and 13 February in Iowa and New Hampshire.
‘Not a focus’
At the White House, Biden appears content to sit back and watch the fall of a man he has branded a “toxic presence.”
Asked Wednesday about the president’s view of the spectacle, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reemphasized that Biden is “not focused on this indictment.”
“Our focus is on what the president was elected to do, which is make sure we deliver… to talk about the issues that matter,” she added.
Biden and his party got another piece of good news overnight Tuesday with victory for the Democratic candidate in an especially fierce battle for a vacant Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. This creates a liberal majority on the court, which will play a key role in refereeing electoral disputes in 2024 in one of the tightest swing states in the country.
But Biden is also injecting uncertainty into 2024.
His age is a constant source of concern, even to allies. Now 80, he would be 86 by the time he left office after a second term.
And he has yet to confirm he is running, despite strongly hinting on several occasions that he will. After repeated delays to the expected announcement, Axios has reported that it may now only land in July or even later.
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