Special Counsel Jack Smith sent Donald Trump a so-called “Target Letter”. This means the ex-president has become the target of the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021, and will have one last chance to defend himself before the grand jury once again. Trump will certainly decline this offer.
Such a directive is, even under normal circumstances, a precursor to an indictment. In this case, there’s a 99.9 percent chance he is, because Smith knew Trump was about to go public. With this measure, the special detective only wants to ensure that he cannot be accused of negligence, really no negligence.
The indictment is therefore likely to come in the coming days and will address Trump’s role before, during and after the storming of the Capitol. Although the details are not yet known, it will be the most serious charge in substance and there is even a risk that Trump has plotted to overthrow the government.
Jack Smith has already proven his prowess as a prosecutor with his indictment in the case of the secret documents the ex-president illegally kept and poorly protected at his Mar-a-Lago residence. Even William Barr, Trump’s former attorney general, admitted that if only half of the allegations were true, his former boss would be “toast.”
For the indictment in Florida, Trump can still somewhat hope for Aileen Cannon, a judge he has appointed. This has already played a more than questionable role in the investigation of the secret documents. His lawyers have already filed a motion to allow the trial to take place after the November 2024 election. Judge Cannon has not yet decided whether she will comply with this request. However, Trump’s chances are pretty slim.
Whatever Judge Cannon decides, the charges against Trump’s role in storming the Capitol will be heard in a Washington DC court. The conditions are very different there. The US capital is a stronghold of the Democrats. The ex-president can therefore not count on a lenient judge or a jury that is well disposed to him. If the charges brought by special counsel in this case are anywhere near the same quality as those in Florida, things look legally pitch dark for Trump.
Trump is terrified of going to jail. That is what people around him report unanimously. That fear is justified, because the ex-president now has to defend himself against three charges. A fourth threatens in August in the state of Georgia, where Trump has attempted to rig the election.
As mentioned, the ex-president has a miserable legal hand. That is why he seeks refuge in politics. In concrete terms, this means that his lawyers are doing everything they can to postpone the start of the various trials until after the 2024 presidential election. Then, according to the calculation, Trump will prevail and immediately drop all proceedings against him.
To help this strategy break through, Trump is currently giving interview after interview, preferably on Fox News. With Ron DeSantis, his main Republican rival, in a slump and many have already written him off, the Murdoch Network rediscovers his temporarily defunct love for Trump and gives him plenty of airtime.
The ex-president seizes the opportunity. Whether Sean Hannity or Maria Bartiromo, Trump constantly presents himself as the victim of a conspiracy by the Biden family, the Democrats or the Deep State. Just as stubbornly, Trump swears vengeance and retaliation. “We are going to destroy the Deep State,” he declares. “We are going to expel the warmongers from government. We will expel the globalists. We will crush the communists, the Marxists and the fascists. And we will throw off the burden of the sick political class that hates our country.”
These threats must be taken seriously. Two of the world’s major media outlets, the New York Times and The Economist, recently revealed the plans a re-elected Trump administration wants to carry out. In short, they are as follows: American democracy must be transformed into an authoritarian state in the sense of Viktor Orban’s Hungary.
After winning the 2016 election, Trump himself was caught off guard and ill-prepared. He didn’t know Washington, he even boasted that he had never spent the night in the capital. His first cabinet was therefore a haphazard bunch, his politics chaotic.
Should Trump actually win in 2024, things would be very different. “A professional staff of America First populists is dedicated to ensuring that the Trump Two era is disciplined, focused and committed to getting things done. They pave the way and we should not underestimate them,” warns The Economist.
Unlike 2016, Trump has professional support this time. There’s the America First Policy Institute, a think tank with 172 employees, including several former members of Trump’s cabinet. They devise strategies and plans to increase the president’s power and fire officials hostile to him. They are backed by the Heritage Foundation, probably the most influential conservative think tank in Washington.
The Trump disciples make no secret of their intentions. There will be a law that makes it possible for all officials who do not unconditionally support the president to be fired. About 50,000 people would be affected. John McEntee, a young agitator who conducted dubious loyalty tests in the final months of the first Trump era, states unequivocally: “Our administration was designed by liberals with the intent of running liberal policies. It is utterly impossible with the existing structures to to help conservative policies make a breakthrough. We need to do more than put the right people in the right place. We need to rethink the whole system.”
In concrete terms, this means that if Trump were re-elected, officials would be fired en masse and expert knowledge would be destroyed en masse. And right away. Steve Bannon, who had tried unsuccessfully at the beginning of the first Trump era, wants to enter Washington this time with at least 4,000 followers on the first day.
In terms of content, there is little surprise in Trump’s plans: the Justice Department must give up its independence and immediately implement the president’s wishes. The FBI and CIA are being “purged.” The Green New Deal is being rolled back, oil and gas are making a comeback. Leaving NATO would again become a problem and even the independence of the central bank would be called into question. It goes without saying that the media is also being kept on a tighter leash.
For Donald Trump, the coming months will be all about avoiding spending the rest of his life in a prison cell by moving back to the White House. For the free world, it is about doing everything possible to ensure that the most important democracy does not suffer irreversible damage. Not only Viktor Orban greets, but also Benito Mussolini.
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
