Historic accusation against former president: why Donald Trump now hopes for tailwind

When Joe Biden was asked on Friday if he wanted to comment on his most dangerous political opponent’s charges, the usually talkative Democrat said “No,” not interested. That was smart. First of all, it was not yet known from what day criminal offenses Donald Trump would be charged in New York. The landmark indictment, drafted by District Attorney Alvin Bragg and approved by a grand jury, was still sealed.

Second, the golden rule of the American two-party system is that there’s no point in meddling in your opponent’s internal affairs in times of great turbulence, especially when the other side is dealing with a common scandal.

Republicans outnumber each other in criticizing the charges

But Biden will of course also have been aware of the scope of his Manhattan, New York, party colleague’s decision. Prosecutor Bragg broke another taboo – former presidents behind the prestige of their office could hide.

In the eyes of Republicans, this turning point threatens the end of the rule of law. In the initial reactions, conservative figureheads like Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House of Representatives, or Governor Ron DeSantis, the young hope of disappointed Trump fans, outraged each other. The Trump charge was un-American, a sad day for the once-proud republic, which reportedly had an apolitical judiciary.

Clinton bought his freedom on the penultimate day of his presidency

A look in the history books shows: Trump could well become the first president of the United States to be tried after his term in office. (Ultimately, a judge in New York will have to decide whether to allow the charges.) And he is certainly the first leading Republican presidential candidate to face the issue of making financial payments in the middle of the White House campaign to a supposed lover .

What was forgotten in the initial responses, however, was that Trump’s two predecessors, Richard Nixon (in office from 1969 to 1974) and Bill Clinton (1993 to 2001), narrowly escaped indictment.

After the Watergate scandal, Nixon was bailed out by his successor, Gerald Ford, who pardoned him and dropped all criminal investigations against the Republican. Clinton, in turn, agreed to an out-of-court settlement on the penultimate day of his presidency; in return, a special counsel drew a line under all investigations into Clinton. Parallel to Trump, these essentially revolved around covering up extramarital relationships.

Trump hopes for a follower effect

While Nixon was dropped by his Republican Party after he was forced to resign, Democrats initially rallied behind Clinton. Even after leaving the White House, the former president remained a popular campaigner for many years. Trump also hopes for this follower effect. He believes he will gain political advantage from the charges, even if he has to campaign in a courtroom.

That’s why he counterattacked on Thursday. In numerous statements on Social Security, Trump again described himself as the victim of a political witch hunt. He took action against the judge responsible, whose name he had misspelled, and accused the experienced lawyer of hating him.

The ex-president also accused the prosecution of being part of a conspiracy to impeach the strongest Republican presidential candidate.

There is no evidence for this claim. Bragg was elected to Manhattan in 2021 and in federal America he does not report to the president. And in the end, it’s just coincidence that the New York investigations led to the first charges against Trump.

For example, the investigation in Georgia into tampering with the vote count after the 2020 presidential election appears to be nearing completion.

But Trump has never put much emphasis on backing up his claims. He does what he does best: he causes commotion, outrage and mobilizes his most loyal supporters.

In a Republican party in which there is not yet a strong national counterpoint to Trump, this could benefit him politically. In the general populace, however, the ex-president’s antics will mainly cause general exhaustion to continue to mount. (aargauerzeitung.ch)