It went a little under the radar because international news took up all the space, but Donald Trump has just had his worst week since leaving the White House in January 2021.
The worst news for the former president is attorney Sidney Powell’s admission of guilt in trying to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
The ex-president is one of 19 co-defendants who all pleaded not guilty after their indictment last August.
Mme Powell not only pleaded guilty to six counts, she also agreed to testify for the prosecution against her co-defendants, including Donald Trump. A witness who is, of course, very important for the prosecution.
PHOTO FULTON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE, REUTERS ARCHIVES
Lawyer Sidney Powell, during her arrest last August
Mme Powell was, shortly after the November 2020 election, one of the most strident denouncers of alleged electoral fraud, accusing, among other things, the company that manufactured certain voting machines of being controlled by Venezuela.
In particular, Mme Powell will be able to talk about the meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on December 18, 2020, when we were trying to develop a strategy to invalidate the presidential election in Georgia.
In particular, she was at the heart of an attempt to illegally copy the software of vote counting computers in Georgia.
The fact that Mme Powell’s guilty plea also means she rejects the idea that the 2020 election was subject to massive fraud that caused Donald Trump’s defeat – which is still at the heart of all of the candidate’s public interventions.
On Friday, we learned that another of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Kenneth Chesebro, had pleaded guilty and would also collaborate with prosecutors.
The other bad news for Donald Trump is the excellent week that President Joe Biden had. First for having decided to go to Israel to support its long-time ally. But also, on his return, for having made a speech to the nation where he succeeded in linking aid to Ukraine and aid to Israel in the same cause, the defense of two democratic countries.
PHOTO JONATHAN ERNST, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
US President Joe Biden during his address to the nation last Thursday
Which gives him a certain moral ascendancy over his Republican adversaries who are divided on the aid to be given to Ukraine. Donald Trump has already very publicly expressed reservations about continuing to help Ukraine if he becomes president again. And, recently, he argued that Hamas had been “very smart” in the context of its attack on Israel.
Significant side effect of the week: when he looks like a statesman, no one talks about Joe Biden’s age anymore.
Meanwhile, in the House of Representatives in Washington, the Republican Party continues to make a very public display of its internal divisions.
The candidate very openly supported by Mr. Trump, Jim Jordan, not only failed to obtain a majority, but he also lost support among his Republican colleagues in each round of voting. After a third round, he ended up losing the confidence of his caucus in a secret vote.
It must be said that Mr. Jordan, whose partisanship does not suffer from compromise and who does not disdain to adhere to conspiracy theories, does not really have the profile of a unifying President of the House, who looks for common points rather than to exacerbate differences.
The House, which must necessarily approve any spending by the federal government, has therefore been paralyzed for two weeks, since Mr. Trump’s main supporters showed the door to Kevin McCarthy, an ally of Mr. Trump who had committed the mortal sin to compromise with the Democrats.
But what’s interesting about what happened this week is that the revolt came from moderate Republicans, those who are not necessarily very enthusiastic about seeing Mr. Trump once again become the Republican nominee for president.
Since Trump became president, these more moderate Republicans have barely shown up. But times are changing, even if this moderate wing remains a minority in the party.
And finally, there are the performances of Donald Trump himself. He has decided not to debate his opponents for the Republican nomination since he believes – not without reason – to have an almost insurmountable lead in the polls. But the rust is starting to set in.
As highlighted this week by New York TimesTrump constantly harps on the 2020 election that was allegedly stolen from him – even though it’s been three years now and no evidence of fraud has been found – and he’s virtually incoherent on other topics. .
But, in the electoral campaign, it will be more difficult for him to claim: “There would never have been a war in Ukraine if I had been president. » He will then have opponents who can respond to him.