Piling up to the rafters, 77-year-old President Donald Trump is close to getting buried by a torrent of legal problems with Special Counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Atty. Fani Willis breathing down his neck. Trump already faces a 34-count indictment by Manhattan DA Alvin Braggs involving bookkeeping felonies related to a hush money payment to former adult film star Stormy Daniels. More ominous than that is the 37-count indictments by 54-year-old Special Counsel Jack Smith for Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago by the FBI Aug. 8, 2022. Trump apparently received a “target letter,” informing him that Special Counsel Smith could file charges related to Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots, where the Jan. 6 House Select Committee urged charges for planning and orchestrating the Capitol mayhem on Jan. 6, 2021.
Running for reelection, Trump hopes to dodge all the charges that have become too overwhelming even for his political ambition to return to the White House. At this point, Trump and his backers remain in denial that facing multiple indictments he can run for president, let alone expect voters to send him back to the White House. Republicans opposed to Trump, led by 52-year-old former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), have been saying for months that Trump can’t win a general election. Party officials must find a suitable alternative candidate to Trump because his campaign is in quicksand, despite leading the GOP field in the polls. No one in today’s GOP field, including Trump, can beat Biden in the 2024 election. GOP officials must go back to the drawing board and find a new candidate before it’s too late. Trump kids himself thinking he can overcome his mounting legal quagmire.
Trump’s legal problems are just too great to overcome before the 2024 presidential election. Trump has prodigious skill dodging bullets but eventually his legal problems will bury his 2024 presidential bid. Trump backers have great nostalgia for his presidency but they must face the undeniable fact that he can’t overcome his legal problems and get elected in 2024. However loyal Trump’s base, only 25% of voters, is not enough to win the White House. Trump calls all his legal problems a wtich-hunt but defending legal charges won’t be easy for the former president that has a loyal following hoping for the best but knowing he can’t be president against. Even if Trump’s acquitted or all charges, it’s not enough to convince enough voters that they should repeat what happened in his first presidency. Whatever happened then, there’s not enough general election voters to get him to the White House.
Trump’s loyal following hates to see him in legal trouble, largely because they see his problems as a political witch-hunt. Whether Trump brought on his own problems is anyone’s guess. But his legal battles have not yet begun, facing a May 25 date with U.S.
District Court Aileen Cannon’s Miami courtroom. If things weren’t bad enough for the media mob, they keep denying him a fair trial by trying-an-convicting Trump on liberal TV. All the anti-Trump pundits, led by members of his own party, with the likes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, continue to slam Trump daily. Christie thinks he plays the dragon slayer but in fact Trump is a dead man walking without all Christie’s insults. Trump faces too many legal challenges to overcome all the political obstacles running against 25% of the GOP.
All of Trump’s legal woes boil down to how prosecutors can capitalize on low-hanging fruit, something legal experts think relate to classified documents. Whether that seems like a slam dunk or not, it seems like a petty federal prosecution, when you consider all the docs found in boxes of rubbish taken from the White House inadvertently and stored at Mar-a-Lago. It’s unfathomable that Judge Cannon would approve jail time for Trump, when it’s obvious he paid no attention to what was stored a Mar-a-Lago. When it comes to Smith Jan. 6, 2021 case against Trump, the Special Counsel will have to prove that Trump organized-and-planned the Capitol insurrection, something farfetched. Jan. 6 House Select Committee spent a year-and-a-half and couldn’t link Trump to the rabble-rousers vandalizing the Capitol. Smith has no more facts than the Select Committee.
Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut.), one of Trump’s biggest detractors in Congress, urged today for all second tier 2024 GOP candidates to drop out by Feb. 2024. If the GOP listened to Romney, Trump would be the only one left running, handing the nomination to the former president. Trump has a big lead in polls largely because, unlike Romney, he’s a great natural campaigner. Romney couldn’t hold an audience, putting people to sleep in 2008 and 2012, both years former President Barack Obama wowed audiences. Whether Romney admits it or not, Trump is the best GOP campaigner since President Ronald Reagan. Telling GOP candidates to drop out so Trump can face a real challenge makes zero sense. No one in the GOP field comes close to Trump;s campaigning skill, leaving him ahead of the pack. If the GO wants to win back the White House, they need to find someone acceptable to independents.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
