On August 14, I was shocked to discover that former United States President Donald Trump was indicted for the fourth time in five months with a civil fraud case. Despite his legal troubles, a recent poll conducted by CNN shows that 49 percent of Americans would vote for Trump, while only 45 percent would vote for current President Joe Biden.
Political Power
Trump still holds significant political power in this country, even though he could be arrested before the 2024 election. Although the possibility is small, that percentage that he gets arrested is growing with each new indictment towards him.
This topic was mentioned at the first Republican debate, held on August 23, where six out of the eight candidates pledged to support Trump even if he was convicted.
Additionally, most of the GOP revolves around Trump. In the polls, Trump has the support of around 60 percent of Republican voters, with second place going to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, with a meager 13 percent. To gather support, many Republican candidates aligned their political ideals with Trump’s in the hope that they can boost their own support.
Among these candidates is DeSantis. When the January 6 riot occurred, Trump openly accused former Vice President Mike Pence of not protecting the Constitution and not defending his scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election. DeSantis echoed this exact same sentiment by dodging a question that tried to determine his stance on what Mike Pence did during the riot. DeSantis responded by saying “Mike did his duty, I’ve got no beef with him, but here’s the thing: Is this what we’re going to be focusing on?”
The short answer is yes.
On January 6, 2021, Trump held a speech at the Ellipse, located two miles from the US Capital, where Congressmen were certifying the electoral college’s votes to name Joe Biden as the 46th president.
In his speech, Trump repeated lies about the 2020 presidential election, with the BBC reporting he said, “We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore. So, let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
About 40 minutes later, Capitol Police officially report that there is a riot at the US Capitol. 30 minutes later, rioters were mere feet away from the Senate chamber and 100 feet from Mike Pence, while chanting to hang the former vice president.
The repercussions of this event are still felt to this day, with an indictment about an infamous phone call Trump had with a Georgia election leader in which he allegedly said, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”
CNN reports that this indictment is led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for various charges, including filing false documents, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, and conspiracy to commit filing false documents. Trump has continuously spread these election lies, while many of his supporters are leaving him in the dust.
One of the many examples of this is Pence, who NBC reports as having said, “[Anyone] ]who puts himself over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” In this statement, Pence is referring to Trump’s criminal indictment to overturn the 2020 election.
This is extremely important as according to the Associated Press, prosecutors in the same criminal indictment said “The defendant [Trump] is not above the law. He is subject to the federal criminal laws like more than 330 million other Americans, including Members of Congress, federal judges, and everyday citizens.”
However, Trump is also gaining support from many of his voters. His persona of a candidate who should have rightfully won the 2020 election and who will “Make America Great Again,” connects with a lot of republican voters.
Moreover, Trump’s ideas and policies are still represented worldwide. In Argentina Javier Milei was elected president on Sunday. Milei’s policies including abolishing sex education, claiming climate change is a “socialist conspiracy,” and getting political advice from psychic sessions with his five cloned dogs. Trump has embraced the new president, calling upon him to “Make Argentina Great Again.”
Inflation of Business
Another lawsuit brought against The Trump Organization is in civil court over allegations that he inflated his business’ net worth by billions of dollars. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is leading the case, seeks $250 million and for Trump to give up ownership of all his New York properties.
Criminal Law Teacher Cassandra Abodeely said that this is a bifurcated trial, meaning the Trump Organization has already been found liable for the lawsuit.
“The question that is being litigated right now is the question of damages, and what is anything, is Trump going to have to pay back for wrongdoing that was already determined,” Abodeely said.
A Reminder of Trump’s Past
Trump spelled disaster early in his first term with his infamous Muslim travel ban. This order attempted to stop terrorism in the U.S. by banning citizens of seven Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Libya. This blatant stereotype that Islam is a “violent religion,” is extremely hateful towards a religious group, and does not help America become a more diverse country.
If Trump is re-elected as U.S. president, he could further the enormous division between Americans. During his previous term, many groups in the US became divided due to his controversial policies and ideas. If Trump is back in power, he could cause many global conflicts to escalate due to his outrageous policies and his obsession to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
We cannot make this same mistake again, seeing as it is crucial for the survival of this country that Trump doesn’t become president.
