March 30, 2023, 9:27 PM
March 30, 2023, 9:27 PM
It is the beginning of the end? The indictment of Donald Trump, the first of a US presidential candidate, add your campaign for 2024 in uncertainty.
The main risk for Trump is turning against moderate Republicans and independents, who could view impeachment by a New York court as a red line.
Trump is accused of having paid $ 130,000just before his presidential victory in November 2016, to the actress of porn movies Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had sexual relations with the tycoon, who denies it.
This first accusation could open the door to other: Trump is also the subject of an investigation for the way in which he managed the files in the White House and for allegedly having exerted electoral pressure on the state of Georgia. In the latter case, the prosecutor promised an “imminent” decision.
But the indictment could also benefit the candidate at a time when he lacks the campaign dynamics of years ago.
Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, acknowledges that any other presidential candidate would be “terrified” by such accusations, but “one of Trump’s greatest talents is taking advantage of the attacks against him”.
Trump came to power in November 2016 in an unprecedented political scenario that almost no one had predicted, and he may be tempted to position himself as a rogue candidate again.
The New York billionaire does not miss an opportunity to repeat his well-known script as a leader close to the Americans – mostly white and of a certain age – who fight against “mass corruption” in Washington.
And already sent the first fundraising emails, asking his supporters to donate between $24 and $250 to “support President Trump at this crucial time.”
“The New York prosecutor did more to help Donald Trump get elected president than anyone in the United States today,” influential Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Saturday, calling the New York indictments “selective.”
The conservative right abandoned him after the attack on the US Congress January 2021 by his supporters but, in a few months, the former leader managed to regain almost total control of the party.
A thousand times it was announced that it would fall, but it has survived so far to all the scandals. As if, by dint of accumulation, they no longer had any effect.
Most of the pollswhich must be taken with caution, they still give the former president as the clear winner in a Republican primary.
Most of his rivals for the Republican nomination have avoided criticizing Trump over his court cases so as not to anger the party boss and his constituency, which they need to win the White House.
They “are trapped,” says Professor Zelizer. “Some want to be more critical but are afraid to challenge it.”
