Monday will see the first-ever criminal prosecution of an ex-president, when Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump returns to a New York courthouse. Trump recently falsely accused his opponents of leading a “Gestapo” administration.
While some Democrats worry that images of turmoil could benefit Trump and that the issue could weaken President Joe Biden’s coalition, the White House is attempting to diffuse the impact of student protests over Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has been instrumental in sowing discord within the Republican Party, and this week there will likely be a vote for the removal of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. For his rescue, the Democrats will be necessary.
Just another typical week in American politics, with unpredictable forces shaking up both parties and portending a nerve-wracking run-up to an election—now just six months and one day away—that might radically alter the country.
A crucial phase has begun in the Trump trial.
The trial against Trump, in which he is accused of attempting to conceal his romance with adult film star Story Daniels by falsifying company papers, will continue in a Manhattan courtroom for another week. According to the prosecution, he tried to deceive voters in 2016 by trying to hide up something, which was an early form of election meddling. Along with three other criminal indictments, Trump has pleaded not guilty, denying the affair.
Prosecutors are hiding witness names from the former president because of his history of attacking witnesses; he was fined $9,000 last week for violating gag orders. Last Monday, though, former White House communications director Hope Hicks testified under oath in response to a subpoena from the prosecution. An emotionally unstable Hicks, who broke down in tears at one point, seemed to implicate Trump in a manner that bolstered the prosecution’s case when she claimed that the former president revealed to her that he knew his then-fixer Michael Cohen had paid Daniels—possibly the most consequential moment of the trial thus far. According to her, Trump also thought it would be better to address the matter after the election rather than before. During cross-examination, Trump’s attorney Emil Bove retrieved a statement from Hicks that could strengthen the central defense claim. Hicks stated that her employer was concerned that the Daniels tale could damage or shame members of his family.
Cohen, who was Trump’s lawyer and was convicted of tax fraud, making false statements to Congress, and breaching campaign finance rules, is likely to testify, adding another crucial twist to the trial.
President Trump’s demeanor is more irritable as the trial progresses. Following his shameful 2021 resignation after attempting to steal the last election on the basis of bogus accusations of fraud, he is already presenting new signs of the radicalism that may drive his second term and presents a new threat to American democracy.
At a private luncheon at his Mar-a-Lago club on Saturday, he compared the Biden team to the Nazi Secret Police, who rounded up and perpetrated genocide against Jews in the Holocaust, accusing Democrats of “running a Gestapo administration,” according to three participants.
The accusation that his charges are the product of a Democratic conspiracy is one that Trump keeps bringing up. Regarding this, nevertheless, no proof exists. In addition to demonstrating his lack of historical knowledge, the ex-president’s remarks on the Gestapo demonstrate that he will stop at nothing to win the race by using incendiary rhetoric. Trump flat-out denied last week that he would accept the outcome of the next election in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Also, last week, he spoke with Time magazine and suggested that the “fairness” of the election could determine whether or not violence broke out.
According to Biden campaign spokesman James Singer, Trump’s comments at the fundraiser demonstrated the peril of the former president’s stated intention to pursue vengeance during a possible second term. Singer criticised Trump for his “despicable and insulting comments about the Holocaust” and his “attacks on law enforcement, celebration of political violence, and threat to our democracy” all at the same time.
More and more, Democrats are worried about the effects of the protests.
Campus demonstrations over Israel’s attack in Gaza will continue to have political repercussions for Democrats for at least another week.
Campus demonstrations over the enclave’s civilian deaths have become a litmus test for Joe Biden’s popularity among the young, progressive voters he needs to defeat Donald Trump in November.
The president finally spoke out on Thursday, after days of mounting political pressure, stating that while the freedom to protest is important, he would not stand for it when protests became violent. He spoke out against the antisemitic incidents that have been reported involving Jewish students and emphasized that he would not change his strong support for Israel following the terror attacks on October 7. This, despite his repeated requests that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government do more to safeguard Gazan civilians, which have been repeatedly ignored.
Republicans and Trump have used the demonstrations, as well as police actions to disperse them at several schools, to bolster their argument that Biden has the nation spiraling out of control and that Trump can bring law and order back.
While appearing on Sunday’s “State of the Union” episode of HEADLINESFOREVER, Biden campaign national co-chair Mitch Landrieu rejected an analogy advanced by Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders had drawn a comparison between the present protests and the anti-war movement of 1968, which led then-President Lyndon Johnson to drop his reelection campaign. Landrieu criticized the Vermont independent senator, calling her stance a “over exaggeration.” Here we are dealing with an entirely new situation, he said. In my opinion, anyone who were there would tell you that this is quite different from what they went through. That being said, it is far from a trivial issue.
Despite the dramatic scenes at many universities, some Democrats have attempted to minimize the significance of the protests by pointing to polls that shows the war in Gaza is not a top priority for the majority of young voters. Pennsylvania Democrat and longtime Israel supporter John Fetterman cautioned that pro-Palestinian protesters may end up helping Trump win the election in November. “If they want to use that strategy to hand Michigan to Trump, you better own that fire,” Fetterman added, alluding to the battleground state’s large Arab American Democratic electorate. Liberals should not abandon Biden over his war views, he added. “If you are willing to walk away or vote for someone else, you are effectively abandoning your vote and are now riding the Trump train; you had better be prepared for the wreck,” he said.
On CBS’s “Face the Nation,” however, Rep. Ro Khanna of California—another prominent Democrat—said that positive discourse was taking place at many marches around the nation. Comparable to the anti-Vietnam, anti-apartheid, and anti-Iraq War demonstrations, he argued, this generation must recognize that it is a defining time. More than 30,000 individuals have reportedly lost their lives. This conflict must conclude immediately. Hamas wants to see leadership in the United States and elsewhere, and they have hostages to release.
Once again, Johnson battles for his life.
Greene has called a vote to remove Johnson from office, which would further destabilize the House GOP. Johnson is expected to survive this vote, which is another major political drama that is expected to occur this week. Democrats will likely vote to rescue the speaker after Johnson approved Biden’s proposal for billions of dollars in money for Ukraine last month. The future of the Louisiana lawmaker is uncertain, even if he manages to stay alive; no Republican speaker wants to give the idea that he is only in power because to the opposing party.
Even Republicans who aren’t crazy about the new speaker are sick of the same governing charade that happened last year when Johnson’s predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, was chosen by a multi-vote ballot and the Californian was ousted and replaced.
Since the right-wing radicals in the GOP gained control of the House following the 2022 midterm elections, they have used the slim majority to their advantage and rendered the chamber practically unmanageable. But Greene is determined to move forward after accusing Johnson of forsaking Republican base supporters, even though Trump, who is a patron of Greene’s, has lauded Johnson and is not thrilled about further party disarray that might hurt his and the GOP’s chances in the fall.