Now stormy Hurricane Ron DeSantis is also blowing in the face

Even the most die-hard Trump fan knows — or at least suspects — that his idol had an affair with Stormy Daniels, and he also knows that Trump paid hush money to keep the porn star from speaking out. After all, his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was sentenced to three years in prison for this and the files accompanying that sentence clearly show that Cohen acted on behalf of Donald Trump.

So why hasn’t Trump been impeached so far? To understand this, we have to look at American Byzantine law, albeit superficially, admittedly. So:

The Cohen trial was led by the Southern District of New York (SDNY). This investigative firm is considered the strongest in the US and has developed a reputation for pursuing the mafia. It reports to the Department of Justice, making it a national (federal) institution that must abide by federal rules.

A Justice Department rule states that a sitting president cannot be indicted. That is why the trial against Trump was initially suspended. To make matters worse, the “federal” rules stipulate that a star witness agrees to be responsible for all possible crimes.

Trump’s attorney Cohen agreed to testify against his former boss over hush money. However, he feared that some completely different offenses could potentially doom him. He therefore refused to be available to the SDNY as a star witness. In doing so, he provided Attorney General William Barr with a welcome opportunity to drop the case against Trump altogether.

Alvin Bragg in. He replaced Cyrus Vance as coroner in Manhattan in 2021. Previously, he had Trump investigated for financial crimes for years. To that end, he had also brought a notorious mob hunter named Mark Pomerantz out of retirement. Pomerantz also looked at the hush money story, but concluded that prosecution under New York state law was virtually impossible.

So we are no longer at the federal level, but at the state level. Pomerantz explains the legal differences between the two levels in an excellent book entitled “People vs Donald Trump”. (It’s really worth reading.) You just have to believe me here.

Pomerantz concluded that Trump should be blamed for his financial conduct. However, he described Stormy Daniels’ story as a “zombie case” that finally needs to be buried. Alvin Bragg sees it the other way around. He closed the financial case and revived the zombie case, after which Pomerantz resigned while singing wild songs.

Now Bragg is apparently about to file charges against Trump. Experts wonder how he wants to do this legally. He can prove to Trump with certainty that he wrongly booked the hush money payments, namely as expenses for his lawyer. But under New York law, that’s only enough for misconduct, but not for a criminal offense.

Bragg must therefore resort to a trick. He must prove that the misconduct in question was in the service of a criminal offense. That’s the only way he can get Trump in jail. With that, however, he breaks new ground and starts a legal tightrope walk. Everyone eagerly waits for him to fall.

Trump, on the other hand, is not waiting. He’s seen his CFO, Allen Weisselberg, trot in handcuffs before the magistrate, and the thought of the same thing happening soon drives him mad. That is why he called for demonstrations on his Truth Social platform last Friday to prevent his arrest.

And with that, Trump also gets Ron DeSantis into trouble. His call has now become a test of solidarity within the Grand Old Party. Kevin McCarthy, the speaker, has denounced a threatening indictment as a political witch hunt, as has Elise Stefanik, the New York State Congresswoman who sees her chances as a possible Vice President.

The MAGA pack – Marjorie Taylor Greene, JD Vance etc – is running amok, demanding that all Republicans take a stand. However, one has been remarkably coy so far: Ron DeSantis. He challenges the MAGA pack. Jack Posobiec, a far-right figure with a large following on social media, has already launched a campaign against DeSantis. Donald Trump Jr., Trump’s oldest son, took on this campaign saying, “Beware which Republicans spoke out against the corrupt BS (bull shit, i.e. impeachment against Trump) and who took the time to see out which way the wind blows.”

No one now doubts that DeSantis wants to run for president. But no one understands their strategy. To win over the MAGA audience, he apes Trump on the one hand. For example, he described the war in Ukraine as a “territorial conflict” and spoke out against further US aid. In doing so, he has angered traditional Republicans.

By keeping quiet about Stormy Daniels, he risks alienating the Trump base and landing in stormy waters. Paradoxically, a porn star gets DeSantis into trouble. He is considered a caring father and completely free from affairs. But somehow it’s also a kind of poetic justice.