“Trump wins – no matter how the trial ends,” says the Tages-Anzeiger of the spectacle surrounding the indictment of the ex-president in Manhattan. This statement is widespread and appears to be correct at first glance. Trump is again ubiquitous in the media. American TV channels waste long minutes during prime time filming everyday things like Trump’s private jet leaving Florida or his motorhome on Franklin Roosevelt Boulevard in New York.
Not only Fox News, but also the left-liberal media are involved in this evil game. Too much money is at stake. “While Trump denigrates journalists as servants of a rogue state, the symbiosis between him and the mainstream media remains deep,” Edward Luce told the Financial Times.
Everything is different this time
So does history repeat itself? Can Trump once again suck all the oxygen out of the room and get the sole media attention? Probably. But the effect will be different this time. In 2016, Trump was the political maverick, stepping in to shake up the establishment. That, and his undoubtedly great talent as a presenter, brought him to the White House.
In contrast, in 2023, Americans know Trump inside and out — and they don’t like what they see. In surveys, about 60 percent of those polled regularly resisted the idea of moving back to the Oval Office. Above all, the all-important independent voters – and in turn especially the women in the suburbs – firmly reject Trump.
The spectacle in Manhattan reinforced this impression. It was a freak show of the worst kind. Marjorie Taylor Greene compared the ex-president not only to Nelson Mandela, but even to Jesus. Her colleague Lauren Boebert wanted to see parallels in the actions against Trump with the actions of Mussolini and Hitler. Of course, the notorious lie baron, George Santos, could not be missed.
In short: in 2016, the media spectacle helped Trump to a triumph that no one expected. In 2023, the media spectacle will reinforce its ugly image – except at the base, of course.
The spectacle in Manhattan also detracted from Democrats’ two key victories on Wednesday. Brandon Johnson was surprisingly elected mayor of Chicago. Johnson is a black progressive who had the support of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. His opponent, Paul Vallas, is also a member of the Democratic Party, but on the conservative wing. Vallas’s fate was that he once expressed sympathy for Trump.
The most important elections of the current year took place in the state of Wisconsin. There was a new appointment at the Supreme Court. Members are elected for ten years. So far, Republicans have a four-to-three majority.
That ratio has swung in favor of the Democrats. Janet Protasiewicz, a progressive Democrat, defeated Daniel Kelly, a conservative Republican. And clearly, with an eleven percentage point lead. This is a political earthquake for Wisconsin, as the results in this important swing state are usually paper thin.
Why are the elections in Wisconsin so important? The Democrats’ success means that a tough abortion law will be repealed. And above all, it has the effect of redistributing the absurd constituencies in this state. This will be of great importance in view of the 2024 elections.
Wisconsin is also an important mood barometer for the entire country. Therefore, both parties have raised a lot of money for the election campaign. The fact that Kelly was so clearly outnumbered should make the election strategists of the Grand Old Party think. Not only is Kelly a staunch supporter of Trump’s Big Lie, he’s also a staunch opponent of abortion. The latter in particular is probably the reason for his clear defeat.
The abortion issue is becoming a stumbling block for Republicans. Yet they cannot avoid it. Also in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis, under pressure from his base, wants to pass a law in the coming weeks that will ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This amounts to a de facto ban on abortion. How that will turn out in the Sunshine State remains to be seen.
The GOP isn’t just concerned about the abortion issue. The Trump circus also continues. Several court hearings await the ex-president later this month. A civil trial is scheduled for April 25 over whether he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll. Another civil trial will decide whether to ban Trump and his children from continuing to do business in New York State. The plaintiff in this trial is Laetitia James, the New York State Attorney General.
Finally, Trump faces two more criminal cases. One of them in the state of Georgia may be facing charges. There it talks about attempted election manipulation, about the now-legendary phone call in which Trump asked the Secretary of State to get him “11,780 votes” that would have won him victory.
Meanwhile, Special Counsel Jack Smith is investigating both Trump’s role in storming the Capitol and classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. Things look bad for the ex-president on both fronts: his former vice president Mike Pence will now likely have to testify before a grand jury. His lawyer in the documents story has already done that.
The Dominion vs. Fox News lawsuit is also scheduled for later this month. The voting machine manufacturer has sued the TV channel for $1.6 billion in libel damages. The process will cause a lot of upheaval – and Trump will look very bad again.
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.
