(WASHINGTON) Donald Trump is fresh off a new race for the White House, and it’s not enjoying the momentum he’d hoped. exactly the contrary.
“It’s a disastrous start to the campaign,” says Lara Brown, a professor of political science at George Washington University, who believes the former president is moving from “scandal to scandal.”
who had hoped to ride the conservative “wave” in the midterm elections, immediately stumbled over the rug after defeating most of his subjects.
Dumped by conservative heavyweights, the former president once again found himself at the center of criticism after dining with rapper Kanye West, accused of anti-Semitism, and white supremacist in late November.
“ridiculous,” “disgusting,” “scandalous”: Republican-elects, long anxious not to anger their party’s leader, now don’t have strong enough words to show their disagreement.
They were still hanging when, last weekend, the former president called for the abandonment of the constitution in one of his usual diatribes, once again denouncing “electoral fraud”.
The failure of one of its candidates to secure a Senate seat, former NFL player Herschel Walker, drove the point home.
“Trump has also seen many major donors say publicly that they will not support his candidacy in 2024,” Professor Brown told AFP.
The billionaire, known for his oratorical skills and rallies before a tide of red caps, hasn’t held a single campaign event outside his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, since announcing his candidacy.
Political concerns that the septuagenarian would have done. He is already the subject of countless investigations into the management of his archives, as well as into his finances in New York.
Capitol assault
His troubles may have just begun.
For more than a year, the windy Republican has been under investigation for electoral pressure in Georgia, which could lead to an indictment.
A parliamentary committee investigating the commander’s responsibility for the attack carried out by his supporters against the US Congress on January 6, 2021, must submit a massive report in the coming weeks.
This committee has already indicated that it will recommend indictments, without specifying who these prosecutions could target.
The decision whether or not to charge the former president is ultimately up to Attorney General Merrick Garland, who in mid-November appointed a special prosecutor to independently investigate Donald Trump.
Without waiting, justice has already convicted his family’s company of tax evasion, a blow for the former businessman, although he himself has not been prosecuted.
Solid
But beware of burying Donald Trump too quickly.
Abandoned by part of the conservative nebula after the attack on the US Congress, the former leader managed in a few months to regain almost complete control.
The platform, whose downfall has been announced a thousand times, has so far escaped all scandals. As if the accumulation no longer had any effect on him.
Coming to power in November 2016 in an unprecedented political scenario that almost no one expected, Donald Trump may also be tempted to play this position of the recalcitrant candidate, if defections persist in his ranks.
He remains one of the top candidates in the GOP primary, and never misses an opportunity to be reminded, by sharing any poll that goes in that direction.
The former real estate mogul can still count on a loyal base, a hard core that swears unwavering loyalty to him and keeps pouring into his campaign meetings.
But the latter may also lose patience, as Lara Brown predicts.
“If some in his base rallied to him when he said he was the victim of a witch-hunt, many others might tire of it.”
