Former US President Donald Trump may resort to “wild extremism” and incite a frenzy over a possible second visit to Waco, Texas, in the wake of an expected indictment from lower Manhattan courts on multiple probes of tax fraud and evasion, with the salacious standout being the alleged “hush money” he paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
In what the American media describes as an unprecedented hazard in the criminal investigations into Trump, Trump is nearly igniting his White House quest for 2024, a convergence that might lead the US into a new political and legal collision.
On his first visit to Waco on March 25, Trump used wild rhetoric in his first 2024 campaign, which the media described as a preview of a divisive national moment ahead if he is indicted in any of the multiple criminal probes, ranging from New York attorney Alan Bragg’s Hush Money case to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil suit on tax evasion plus the criminal probe from the same office.
According to media sources, the former President has built up a demagogic fervour in Waco, Texas, a Republican state where Senator Ted Cruz controls the roost, in a bold endeavour to achieve a second president in what Trump would term “retribution” for his radicalism.
Law enforcement agencies have gone on high alert, fearing that Trump’s demagogy may incite bloodshed as the country is on the verge of a civil war.
According to political experts, Trump would go to the extreme of driving the country into a corner in order to survive the various inquiries launched against him and rescue himself from probable ignominy.
CNN claimed in a special report that Trump’s chilling warnings that President Joe Biden’s administration’s “thugs and criminals” have created a “Stalinist Russia horror show” by “weaponising” justice against him pose an electoral risk for the Republican, who has been deeply harmed by his authoritarianism in the 2022 November midterm elections, in which most of his candidates lost.
His staunchest backers, including media mogul Rupert Murdoch, abandoned him in favour of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
The unusually long attack on a rising star and fellow rider in the party, DeSantis, Trump’s most likely opponent in 2024, demonstrates the former President’s acute mental fragility.
If Florida Governor Ron DeSantis runs for President in 2024 against Trump, who remains popular among hardline rightists in the Republican Party, he may face a political inferno.
Even with the former President’s penchant for exaggeration and harsh speech, CNN said that such demagoguery had never before been heard in the first formal rally of any contemporary American election campaign.
Republican-controlled House committee chairs are expected to pander to Trump supporters by threatening to use the power of the GOP majority in the House to impede Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s investigation into Trump before it reveals any potential indictment or evidence. Trump most likely alluded to this change to reporters on board his Trump Force one jet when he stated the Briggs case against him would be dropped.
According to the agency, House Oversight Chair James Comer stated that the party manoeuvres were legitimate since the probe into Trump’s alleged complicity in a hush money plot to pay an adult film actress was simply political.
“This is the, for better or worse, leading contender for the Republican nomination of the presidential election next year, as well as a former president of the US,” the Kentucky Republican told CNN.
Trump has long been critical of CNN, frequently referring to the network as the Clinton News Network.
Prominent legal experts around the country are sceptical that the Bragg investigation will provide a credible case against Trump, who is already under investigation for his behaviour with the 2020 election and his handling of secret data.
Trump has insisted that he has done nothing illegal. So yet, the former President has not been charged in any of the criminal investigations that have been launched against him.
Multiple tax evasion probes against Trump, particularly in New York, and the former president’s alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 riots on Capitol Hill, as well as his inability to control the “mob” that posed a threat to Vice President Mike Pence and other senators, are having a huge national impact, according to media reports.
As a result, any attempt to exploit a company accounting breach in this year’s protracted hush money case to infer a probable violation of campaign financing law might be highly contentious.
Comer’s remarks indicate that a previous President or White House contender might be shielded from any inquiry, even if they committed a criminal offence, and that Trump is above the law.
Comer and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan have written to Bragg, increasing the pressure on him to testify, boosting Trump’s campaign event in Waco, Texas.
Political experts believe this is an evidence that the new Republican House is assisting Trump’s campaign.
Bragg’s response to the house chairs that it is not appropriate for Congress to interfere with local investigations and that he will be guided by the rule of law has garnered support and strong backing from nearly 200 former federal prosecutors who have signed a letter denouncing congressional efforts to intimidate Bragg.
Trump’s legal woes looked to be intensifying, with the fight over Bragg’s probe into the hush money case escalating while other investigations into Trump appeared to be coming to a close.
A district attorney in Georgia stated that judgements in the investigation into Trump’s attempts to reverse President Biden’s victory in the critical swing state were “imminent” in yet another probe linked to the involvement in the 2020 election.
According to CNN, prosecutors are contemplating filing racketeering and conspiracy charges. Because a former president and a current presidential contender are implicated, such allegations would put the country’s political and judicial systems to the test.
According to sources, the fact that Trump is prepared to inflame the country’s politics in his own defence and self-interest makes this a very critical moment for the country.
