Because of an impending indictment, Donald Trump is lashing out wildly. His calculations could work, because the ex-president receives prominent support.Bastian Brauns reports from Washington.Donald Trump’s closest advisors still seem to be convinced: If the ex-president is really accused, then it will even help him, his loyal ones to bind followers even more closely. Undeterred, his team announces that Trump will begin his first official campaign event next weekend in Texas. Trump is expected to be indicted in New York next Tuesday. A court in New York is dealing with hush money payments to the porn actress Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. She was supposed to keep a former affair with Trump secret so as not to jeopardize his first presidential candidacy in 2016 and received $130,000 for it, arranged by Trump’s then lawyer Michael Cohen. Trump once denied knowing about the payment. While his team is now pushing Trump’s third campaign, the ex-president seems to be going into panic mode. “The widely leading Republican candidate and former President of the United States of America will be arrested next Tuesday,” Trump wrote on his own social network “Truth Social”. In his post on the page, he urged his supporters: “Go protest , take back our nation!” America is now a “Third World Country” and “dying” in the process. American patriots would be arrested and “held captive like animals”. A few hours later he raged again: “We can’t let this go on anymore. They are killing our nation and we are holding back and watching. We have to save America! Protest! Protest! Protest!” The impending indictment in New York and his reactions as a result, Trump’s campaign launch plunges into chaos before it has even begun. In view of the numerous other cases against him, Trump’s tactics now seem to consist of a mixture of helplessness and calculation. However, the ex-president has influential supporters in the Republican party for his re-election. Even if he is convicted, Trump could still become president.Call to revolt against the establishmentRegarding Trump’s call for protests on January 6, 2021, his renewed call for anti-government demonstrations has a clear aftertaste: at that time his appeal was followed by a storming of the Capitol in Washington, where several people died and numerous people were injured. There is a risk that Trump supporters – again incited by him – could resort to violence again. This is probably one of the reasons why a spokesman for the former US President reassured Trump that Trump had not written his appeal with knowledge of a specific risk of arrest. Rather, it is a general warning: “President Trump rightly emphasizes his innocence and the political instrumentalization of our injustice system.” Trump’s tactics are again a ride on the razor blade. Ironically, he is receiving support from the currently most politically powerful Republican, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. “Once again – an outrageous abuse of power by a radical prosecutor who is letting violent criminals free while pursuing political revenge on President Trump,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter, attacking New York City Attorney Alwin Bragg, who is investigating the hush money case “I direct the relevant committees to immediately investigate whether federal funds are being used to undermine our democracy by interfering in elections with politically motivated law enforcement,” McCarthy continued Vice President Mike Pence made a similar statement. Pence told ABC television that he considered the possible charges against Trump to be a politically motivated prosecution. “I’m surprised at the idea of indicting a former President of the United States at a time of crime in New York,” Pence said. That shows “everything you need to know about the radical left in this country.” In fact, many observers were surprised that the Stormy Daniels scandal of all things could now be Trump’s undoing. Several other procedures, such as his interference with the judiciary, appear at first glance to be more dangerous for Trump. In the past, investigators had repeatedly refused to accuse Trump in the context of the hush money allegations. The prosecutor’s office in New York had actually completed the investigation in 2019 – the year before Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty to the 130,000- Arranging US dollar payment for Stormy Daniel’s silence. Nevertheless, prosecutor Alvin Brigg later decided to reopen the case. As a defendant in the White House, Trump’s ex-lawyer Michael Cohen is now one of those who warn particularly vehemently about the ex-president’s calls: Trump doesn’t want peaceful protests, but “one another violent clash on his behalf,” Cohen said in an MSNBC television interview. Trump’s comments were “eerily similar to his “war cry” before the Jan. 6 riot, Cohen said. He criticized the “fools” who would represent Trump legally as a “clown show of lawyers”. They would believe that another violent uprising could get him into the White House. On the Internet, Trump’s supporters are already taking up his calls and making threats. “If Trump is arrested on Tuesday, there will be a spring awakening in this country that will make January 6th look like a child’s birthday,” wrote actor Randy Quaid on Truth Social. There is no legal automatism in the United States that could prevent Donald Trump from running for president if he were actually charged with his numerous alleged crimes. Even if convicted, he could still become president. The reason: There is no law in the USA that prohibits a convicted criminal from holding this office. Theoretically, this also applies if the incumbent is in prison. Trump should know this and therefore seems to keep igniting the fire. The hopes of his opponents are based primarily on the assumption that Trump, as an accused or convicted criminal, would be politically simply intolerable – both for his party and for his electorate. However, Trump has never really given a damn about such unwritten conventions and social no-gos, which his supporters celebrate rather than frown upon. Above all, they see his manner as proof that he does not appear to be a representative of the Washington establishment, which many of his voters hate. Return to FacebookEven in the event of a possible indictment in New York next week, the following applies: As long as Trump has enough supporters in his own camp, everything seems possible. Even a second term. In addition to his tirades on his social network, Trump spoke for the first time on Friday on his Facebook profile, which had been blocked for a long time and was recently reactivated. “I’m back!” He wrote. Trump’s current attorney, Joe Tacopina, has now revealed in several interviews what the defense strategy in the Stormy Daniels case could look like. When Trump claimed in 2018 that he did not know about the hush money payments to Daniels, that was not a lie because he had not testified under oath. He also couldn’t have told the truth, which Tacopina says would have broken the non-disclosure agreement with Stormy Daniels.
