Now that he is the accused Donald Trump, the former president has only two themes left in his speeches: he is a victim and he has the right to take revenge.
The incredible speech he gave in his stronghold of Mar-a-Lago last Tuesday evening contained nothing but victimization and a desire for revenge, not to mention the usual exaggerations. No wonder the ABC network shut down his speech when he predicted President Joe Biden was planning a “Nuclear” World War III, he added.
But beyond Mr. Trump’s speeches increasingly removed from reality, there remains an inescapable reality: he is the first president in the history of the United States to have been accused in court for a cause of nature. criminal.
A cause that is not as weak as some claim. Of course, it ends up at the intersection of New York State laws and federal election laws, which is always risky. But this is more of a disadvantage for the prosecutors than a reason for pronouncing an acquittal.
Currently, we do not have the actual proof, but only a statement of the facts which is much broader and more serious than one might have thought at the outset. First, because it casts a much wider net than the Stormy Daniels case alone, the facts of which are now well known.
There are now three documented attempts to buy silence about embarrassing revelations for Mr. Trump ahead of the 2016 election. All with the assistance of the company that publishes the National Enquirera tabloid tabloid, which bought – with Trump’s money – the testimonies, only to then not publish them.
Once is an incident, three times is a system. Legally, that’s a big difference.
But above all, having broken the ice and having made the first impeachment of a former president makes it easier for the next – otherwise serious – charges that await the former president. .
The most dangerous cause for him is in Georgia, where he demanded – on the record – that the Secretary of State “find” 11,780 votes for him so he can declare himself a winner in this key state. We are talking here about an explicit attempt to rig the results of the 2020 election.
But there are also possible accusations surrounding the documents the former president should have handed over to the National Archives. It’s not the first time this has happened, but the number of documents withheld by Mr. Trump is much greater, such as the fact that he refused to cooperate with the FBI.
Finally, there are possible charges of inciting a riot — possibly even sedition — surrounding his supporters’ assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as elected officials attended the announcement of the results.
It will have been noted a lot in recent days that all the setbacks of the ex-president have quite simply raised his popularity rating among the Republicans. Which is correct. But it’s unclear what the effect of a second or third charge might be.
But above all, we will have to see what effect other accusations – particularly that of Georgia – will have on the Republican Party, both in Congress and among simple sympathizers.
Currently, not a single elected Republican in Washington has wanted to register against the accusations made last week against the former president. It’s a sign of the radicalization of the Republican Party, which is on its way to becoming a full-fledged subsidiary of the Trump Organization.
But the association with the ex-president was not necessarily a guarantee of success for the Republican Party. Since Mr. Trump has been their leader, in four elections, presidential or legislative, they have never obtained a majority of votes either in presidential elections or in Congress.
Elsewhere, polls indicate that independent voters — those who make and break electoral majorities — 62% believe the criminal charges against Mr. Trump are justified.
Meanwhile, the radicalization of elected members of the Republican Party continues unabated, both to defend Mr. Trump and for issues close to their hearts such as the criminalization of abortion and the right to own firearms.
Thus, last Thursday, we saw the Republican majority – they have almost three-quarters of the seats – in the Tennessee state legislature expelling two Democratic representatives for demanding increased gun control, after a new massacre. Not suspended for a few sessions. Expelled from the legislature where they had been duly elected.
In short, we are at the point of no longer tolerating dissent and of outright banning it. Without this radicalization of Republicans, the Trump candidacy could hardly survive. But it is a reality that worries more and more Americans.