Weakened momentarily by the failure of the candidates he had dubbed in the mid-term legislative elections last fall, Donald Trump did not break. Unfortunately. For the time being, he remains the favorite in the race for the presidential nomination of a Republican Party that has sold its soul to him. And he intends, in accordance with the reflex of victimization which makes him pose as a victim of the “deep state”, to take political advantage of the criminal trial which will open against him in connection with the silence bought for 130,000 $US to porn actress Stormy Daniels. To become the first former American president to be indicted, he will make his brief appearance on Tuesday an ostentatious exercise in self-promotion. In a Manhattan on the teeth, the show, which begins Monday with its arrival in New York, will inevitably send consciences back to the assault of January 6, 2021 on the Capitol.
From the moment the grand jury gathered around the prosecutor – democrat – of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, decided that charges deserved to be brought against him, they had to be, out of all other considerations. Trump’s delusion of persecution does not abolish an unalterable fact: before, during and after his presidency, he displayed an incredible contempt for the rule of law. Here it is, with this first trial, since there will be others, overtaken by justice. We expected no less. Lifetime immunity for ex-presidents is over.
That the independence of the courts and the issue of their politicization are debated in the United States is not new. Prosecutors, to name a few, are elected. It will be easy for Trump to drive this nail home. Count on Mr. Bragg to stick to the law. What is striking in this case is that in yelling at the instrumentalization of justice now that he is being prosecuted, Trump is showing an abysmal inconsistency, he who spent his presidency trying with impunity to bend the Department of Justice at will, to appoint grossly partisan judges by the hundreds to the federal courts and to appoint to the Supreme Court ultraconservative magistrates seriously out of touch with the evolution of society. An inconsistency with which, moreover, his supporters do not bother, possessed essentially by the cult they devote to him, if not by a visceral hatred of the democrats. The political conversation among our neighbors has become so confused and tense that one wonders if communication can ever be re-established.
We will know on Tuesday the details of the dozens of charges. We know for the moment that prosecutor Bragg will seek to demonstrate that Trump broke electoral law with this famous payment made to Stormy Daniels, on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, to silence her about their relations. A case that some consider peripheral with regard to the other investigations of which it is the subject. However, notwithstanding the fact that his proven behavior as a Cro-Magnon man towards women did not prevent millions of Republicans from voting for him, this story is not secondary insofar as Mr. Trump only won the presidency by 80,000 votes in three key states in 2016. Had this matter come to light it might have swung the outcome of an election in which Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.
With the other moves against Trump, on a larger scale, the United States is plunged into endless political tribulation. Three other investigations are currently under investigation – that concerning the January 6 assault, that conducted in Georgia concerning the pressure exerted by Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election to “find him 11,779 votes”, and finally that on the hundreds of documents classified objects that he brought back to Mar-a-Lago… Such are the proofs that one wonders why he has not yet been thrown in prison.
Trump will immediately feed on this political and legal crisis, since nothing prevents a candidate convicted in court from running. Not sure, however, that in the longer term it will be profitable for him. In Congress as in the streets, he still manages to make himself interesting by intimidation, victimization and denunciation of institutions. But it is no exaggeration to say that the majority of Americans would like to see him fade away, even if the man fades away, which will eventually happen, the democratic disintegration of which he is the dangerous symptom will not be easy. to fix. Especially since Governor Ron DeSantis, Floridian hero of primary anti-Wokism, is in ambush.
The antidote to these illiberal winds, to these inner demons? A Republican refocusing, which would be a miracle… Failing that, and in the current situation, the need for a Democratic mobilization in the presidential and legislative elections of 2024, with a Joe Biden who, continuing to navigate between the center and the left , tries to hold the helm in the middle of a hurricane.